Ranmazoku
by RedMenace
Summary: Yes, this was my first fic - started in 2000, as a matter of fact. Ranma's father is - a secret. Update - just uploaded the rest of the fic, the special, and some goodies!
1. Ranmazoku Chapter 1

Ranmazoku By PansutoTarou5925  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
DISCLAIMER - I do not own the rights to Slayers nor do I own the rights  
  
to Ranma «. Long live the rightful owners of these two fine anime. This work  
  
is non-commercial and is done only in imitation of Rumiko Takahashi and  
  
Hajime Kanzaka. Imitation is the sincerest flattery, no? US rights owned by  
  
Viz and Software Sculptors.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
Author's Note: The original fanfic idea came from some guy named NesTea and  
  
was posted on NighthawkTM's geocities page; it isn't mine. If you write  
  
traditional C&C, I will thank you. If you send MST me, I will ignore you. If  
  
you send me hate mail, I will smile. And if you ask me when the next chapter  
  
comes out, I will cheerfully lie. If you want to ask me why I write the way I  
  
do or anything else, I would, however, be happy to answer your questions.  
  
ALTAVERSE WARNING! This fic is an ALTAVERSE. Do not assume  
  
canon situations or a canon Ranma. People who complain about this should  
  
stick to the shallow end of the pool and read fics that don't challenge their  
  
expectations of the characters.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
Chapter 1 - Ranma Metallium (incomplete)  
  
Well, now that I look back at it, I'd have to say I first noted that I was  
  
different shortly after entering Nerima with Pop. Why didn't I notice before,  
  
you ask? Well, it wasn't like I really had the chance to watch other people  
  
before. We were always on the move, hopping from one place to the next,  
  
two steps ahead of an angry mob of shopkeepers and dojo masters. When  
  
everyone is always angry at you and your Pop, you get to feeling that that's  
  
the way things ought to be, like it's all natural and stuff. You think I'm  
  
shittin' you? No, it really does feel great to have people hate me. The most  
  
natural thing in the world. It isn't so surprising now that I know what I am, I  
  
guess. What, you mean you don't know what I am? You aren't real social,  
  
are you? The other students, they usually tell the transfers all about me.  
  
Either that or they send you to Nabiki to make a quick yen - I hear she's  
  
been giving bonuses to anyone who sends someone to her for information.   
  
You don't know Nabiki? Man, you're living dangerously. I'll tell you about  
  
Nabiki, she's considered the most manipulative, dangerous, and well informed  
  
person in Nerima. They say she knows almost everything and everyone in  
  
this town and what she doesn't she can find out fast enough. She certainly  
  
charges enough to do it though. Anyhow, I'll save you some yen and just tell  
  
you. You'll need the yen to pay Nabiki off sooner or later anyhow. Or you'll  
  
need it to repair your house or something. This place is really rough.  
  
Anyhow, I'm Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of Anything Goes  
  
Martial Arts. Never heard of the Anything Goes School? Yeah, well,  
  
I'm not really surprised you haven't. It's only practiced by two families. Three  
  
if you count the Freak, but I don't and no one else does. The Freak? He's the  
  
town perv - you're no girl, so you're safe. He's always stealing the girls'  
  
underwear and raising hell. As for the other martial artists in town, well,  
  
most of them either want me dead or just plain want me. Yeah, there are a  
  
bunch of really pretty girl martial artists around here. See here? This one's  
  
Shampoo. She's a Chinese Amazon. I beat her in a tournament a while back  
  
and she's been trying to marry me ever since. Turns out they have this crazy  
  
law dealing with outsider men who beat their warriors. Yeah, it's crazy. No,  
  
she doesn't have any sisters here! They'd be kind of out of your league.  
  
What, you're a second dan in kenpo? That isn't even close to good enough.  
  
Anyhow, this girl here is Ukyo. She sells okonomiyaki a few blocks over  
  
thataway. She's also trying to marry me. Don't ask - my father is an idiot. He  
  
engaged me to this girl too, Akane Tendo. You want these photos? Hey, go  
  
right ahead. Here, here's some more, you can start a collection or something,  
  
maybe sell them to the other students or something. This one's Ranko,  
  
another student of Anything Goes; this here is Ryouga Hibiki, the eternally  
  
lost boy; this is Kodachi Kuno, a crazy gymnast, yes, she's also after me; this  
  
is Mousse, another Chinese Amazon. There's some other people you should  
  
know about as well if you want to avoid becoming a bloody smear in a fight,  
  
but I don't have photos of them. No, you can have all the photos. Yes, really  
  
- well, just give them away if you don't want them. I'm sure the other  
  
students will be glad to take any photos you don't like. They'll probably even  
  
buy them off of you, actually. Oh, don't mention it. It's not like I really need  
  
the photos. Naaah, don't worry. Get in trouble? The principal won't care.  
  
Well, I've got to go to class. Maybe I'll see you around, OK? Just be careful  
  
around here, it's dangerous.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
'That was pretty easy' I thought with a smirk. Nabiki had been selling photos  
  
of my girl side again to Kuno, and, while it wasn't that annoying having her  
  
always taking those photos of me, not getting paid was what really pissed  
  
me off the most. It wasn't that hard to get her pay me, though. Nabiki always  
  
was a sucker to manipulate, because she always believed herself to be  
  
beyond manipulation. She didn't realize that her need for control made it  
  
easy for me to play her like a marionette. As soon as her factors saw photos of  
  
the girls floating around that weren't sold through them, Nabiki would come  
  
to me and ask for my help in making some more cheesecake photos to sell.  
  
Photos that I would get money from, unlike the candid shots, as Nabiki's  
  
instinct would be to get pictures the other supplier couldn't get, and she'd  
  
need my cooperation.   
  
I assumed a well rehearsed look of utter boredom as Hinako-sensei started  
  
to drone on and on about the complexities of the English language. Akane's  
  
angry visage was visible out of the corner of my eye, but she wasn't yet in  
  
that finely honed rage that was such sweet nectar to my inhuman senses.  
  
This would not stand. "Wow, Akane, you really look uncute today." I said,  
  
adopting a blank look that said 'I have no idea how rude I really am'. That  
  
look never failed to bring out...  
  
...ah. There we go. The sweet feeling of all her unbalanced rage and anger  
  
washed over my soul like water from the freshest mountain spring, as she  
  
glowed an intensely bright blue. Her aura dominated our section of the room  
  
and added the sharp taste of fear to the mix, as the terrified students had  
  
every hair on their necks standing on end from the sheer power of Akane's  
  
rage. Best of all, none of them could act on their emotions, as Miss Hinako  
  
would suck the battle aura of the offender until they were as weak and limp  
  
as a wet dishrag. It was shaping up to be a great day to be a mazoku.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
In retrospect, it probably wasn't that great an idea to get that stupid,  
  
condescending smirk on my face. No matter how good I felt at the moment,  
  
it was no excuse. I knew that doing it would break Akane's fragile control  
  
over her temper, I knew! I shouldn't be waking up in the nurse's office, with  
  
weak, wobbly knees and feeling like I got into Happousai's sake again. Ugh.  
  
It is with extreme force of will that I'm able to get up and lurch unsteadily to  
  
Akane's side. She too is showing all the signs of a close encounter of the  
  
Hinako kind, looking like death warmed over. Speaking of people who look  
  
like death warmed over, I see Gosunkugi is in here too. He's probably passed  
  
out from those fainting fits he's been having lately. Of course, both  
  
Gosunkugi and I knew the real reason he was passing out, but it was unlikely  
  
anyone would really believe us if we were to tell them. It's really his fault,  
  
after all, that I found out the truth of my heritage, and I really don't know  
  
whether to thank him or kill him.  
  
I mean, on the one hand, I know for sure that the stupid panda and his flaky  
  
wife had no say in my genetic mix. While I had suspected that for a while,  
  
well, at least with regards to my father, having it proven was a real relief.  
  
I no longer had to worry about polluting the gene pool if I ever had kids.  
  
On the other hand, finding out you weren't human really sort of shakes your  
  
world. It might explain why I always reveled in chaos, hatred, and anger that  
  
has always swirled around me, might explain why Kasumi's cheery demeanor  
  
always frightened me, but I hardly expected these things to be my birthright,  
  
my destiny. I was human, and yet not. It was an uncomfortable place to be,  
  
and I think, if it weren't for Jusenkyo, I wouldn't have been able to accept it.  
  
But if I could cope with being part girl, I could cope with being a mazoku,  
  
too, despite the big changes it had already made in my life. Like picking up  
  
my first student in the Art, and we're not talking Anything-Goes, here.  
  
Hmph. The tomboy's not going to be going anywhere for awhile, at this rate.  
  
Looks like the fact that she ate her own breakfast this morning really  
  
lowered her resistance. Looking at Gosunkugi, who also had severely  
  
depleted reserves, I frowned. To think that Gosunkugi would manage to  
  
mess up my life even worse than it already was just with a simple spellbook.  
  
He had used a spell, one that, oddly enough, had worked for him. The spell  
  
was supposed to summon a powerful demon. Instead, it summoned a certain  
  
purple haired trickster instead. Little did he know that he had just changed the  
  
course of two timelines.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
I had been lazily running through my kata that day, idly wondering why  
  
Ryouga's attack was so ineffective against me. I mean, the Moko Takabisha  
  
really hurt Ryouga, and he's had the benefit of that Bakusai Tenketsu training.  
  
He should be able to just shrug off my blasts, given that his own ki-blasts hurt  
  
me a little, but are nothing special. Yet each blast shook Porky right down to  
  
the bone. I dismissed it as an unsolvable mystery - maybe the training P-chan  
  
had gone through wasn't effective against ki blasts, maybe the 'soul of ice'  
  
training left me resistant to the blasts, who knew - and concentrated on the  
  
wooden post in front of me. Although it would be impossible to do for most  
  
people, I had taken to using the Amaguriken to lightly tap the post. If I timed it  
  
just right, the post would vibrate more and more until it snapped. I think the  
  
sensei called it resonance in science class. Anyway, it was a good way to work  
  
on coordination, as it required perfect timing to strike the post at just the right  
  
moment. I had just heard the post make a sharp crack as the wood bent just a  
  
little too far when a stranger stepped into the yard. "Ranma Saotome, I  
  
presume?" he said, with a familiar smug smile on his face. I had seen it on  
  
Nabiki before, and it had never presaged anything good for me before.  
  
"Who the heck are you?" I asked, annoyed that my training had  
  
received yet another unwanted visitor with a ridiculous power level.  
  
Sometimes, I wondered why Nabiki didn't have a bunch of T-shirts printed up  
  
that said 'I Got My Ass Kicked At The Tendo Dojo, Nerima-ku, Tokyo!'., or  
  
maybe 'I survived Ranma', and sell them to the challengers. She'd probably  
  
make more than what she got from her naughty photos of my girl side. This  
  
purple haired clown was wearing something that looked like a wizard's version  
  
of Ryouga's traveling outfit or something, except he had a staff instead of an  
  
umbrella. "Are you here to challenge the dojo in mortal combat? If so, you  
  
should have used the rear door." Not that anyone actually bothered to read the  
  
sign. Well, the Dojo destroyer might have, but I wasn't there at the time, was  
  
I?  
  
"Actually, I'm here to see you.," he said, "if, indeed, you are Ranma Saotome."  
  
He seemed amused by something, smiling in that annoying fashion, eyes almost  
  
closed from the force of the grin. "You see, I have information that might  
  
prove useful to you." I wasn't stupid enough to ask anything right then; long  
  
experience with Nabiki had taught me that much. I leaned on the broken  
  
practice post, chin propped on hand, and assumed a half lidded gaze, trying to  
  
wait him out. Though I was vaguely curious what knowledge the guy might  
  
have, I knew if I answered him he'd have the upper hand in the negotiations.   
  
He finally stepped back, leaning against the wall of the Tendo house. "I may be  
  
able to show you the means by which you can cure your curse."  
  
"Really?" I asked excitedly. No! It was too good to be true!  
  
"Yes... I've been keeping an eye on you, actually. You certainly have the  
  
potential to be a powerful mage." He smiled knowingly at me, opening one  
  
purple eye to look into mine. "And the best way to counter magic is with more  
  
magic."I gave the stranger another baleful stare before disinterestedly turning  
  
back to my practice. The post might have been snapped, but it wasn't like I  
  
was going to waste my time on some charlatan.  
  
"Yeah, right, magic. Sure. Well, I might train with you, but I need proof." I  
  
said, still trying my very best to appear disinterested, bored even, that this guy  
  
was wasting his time. I had just jumped into the air to give this guy a good  
  
look at the elegance of the aerial fighting techniques of the Saotome ryu when  
  
a big fireball (?) slammed me through the wall of the dojo. Quickly rolling to  
  
put out the fires it had set on my clothes, I got up and prepared to beat the hell  
  
out of the guy. Even Ryouga didn't attack me without... well, actually he did,  
  
but no one else was that rude! "What the hell are you doing?"  
  
He raised one eyebrow in false shock. "Why, didn't you ask for a  
  
demonstration of my magic? Oh, well, I must have been mistaken." He turned  
  
around and began walking towards the front gate.  
  
"No, wait! I'm sorry I didn't believe me!" This guy was for real. This gave me  
  
the best shot at ditching my curse that I had gotten in a long time. I wasn't  
  
going to just let opportunity walk away. Besides, that fireball might be useful  
  
in a fight. Heh. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to use them against Kuno,  
  
because that would make him right about something, which just might herald  
  
the end of the world or something. "Listen, I'd be happy to learn magic from  
  
you, Mr. , ah..?"  
  
"Xellos Metallium, at your service." he said, with a small bow.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
That was how I ended up visiting another world to begin my studies in the  
  
arcane. Every single day, I vanished into thin air, having been careful to ditch  
  
any of my relentless pursuers back in Nerima. Every day, I ended up training in  
  
the various magical arts under the most sadistic seven year old the worlds have  
  
ever seen. Of course, he really wasn't seven, but it was difficult to think of him  
  
as anything other than a kid, even when he revealed himself as being some kind  
  
of ageless demon lord or something. Hellmaster Phibrizzo, loyal servant of the  
  
Lord of Nightmares. Strange to think that such a terrifying personality would  
  
occupy such a harmless looking body, but he had a point that no one really  
  
expected any trouble from a kid. I had used the same principle with my girl  
  
body plenty of times, after all.  
  
I had taken to the study of black magic like Mousse does to water, which  
  
actually kinda annoyed me. I mean, my cure was most likely to be found in the  
  
realm of white magic. But it was hard to disagree with the sort of offensive  
  
firepower I was accumulating. I could level half a city block without breaking a  
  
sweat. And it wasn't like I would use this Art to corrupt the other one I study -  
  
I was fighting all my battles the old fashioned way back in Nerima. I'd never let  
  
my hand to hand skills die, even if I could take Happousai three falls of four  
  
with these spells.  
  
It was also at this time that I studied the art of intrigue under Phibrizzo, of  
  
taking the game of trickery to a plane even Nabiki couldn't comprehend. How  
  
to control without even looking like you were doing anything. Not that  
  
Phibrizzo actually sat down and lectured me, like he did on magic, constantly  
  
drilling me on magical theory and the role of the mazoku and the dragons in  
  
the world, but instead I learned it from the way Phibrizzo would subtly  
  
manipulate the local merchants and town guards into never bothering what  
  
appeared to be a homeless street urchin and his older friend. Phibrizzo would  
  
always gloat about his mental superiority over them, and let slip a few tricks of  
  
the trade. And from time to time, Xellos would drop by. Apparently, Phibrizzo  
  
had ordered him to help some people looking for a "Claire Bible" which  
  
supposedly contained magical knowledge lost to the ages. I had been all hot to  
  
go after it myself and see if it had any hope for curing my curse, but Xellos and  
  
Phibrizzo had told me it was mostly about the war fought between the mazoku  
  
and the dragons a thousand years ago and some information on black magic.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
It was after a month of this study that I went to Phibrizzo and made my  
  
request. Sure, I had been his student for a while now, but I wanted to make it  
  
official. I owed him. Besides, I had some suspicions I needed confirmed. The  
  
two of us were returning from the market, where we had cadged free eats by  
  
posing as a cute girl and her adorable little brother. "Hellmaster?" I asked.  
  
"Yeah?" he replied, taking a lick of his ice cream cone. It was kinda ridiculous  
  
to imagine one of the most powerful, evil mazoku lords as a young kid with an  
  
ice cream cone, but there it was. "What is it, Ranma?"  
  
"I would like to, um..." I searched for words. How should I make my request?  
  
"I would like to become your student. Officially." He stopped licking his ice  
  
cream cone and stared me in the eyes.   
  
"I could take you on as a true student, but the other mazoku would look  
  
askance if they knew I was training a human in the secrets of the mazoku." he  
  
said, getting the hard, cold set to his eyes that told me this was truly the  
  
Hellmaster Phibrizzo, mastermind of the War of the Resurrection of the  
  
Demon King. I had to steel myself for my next question. It had been one which  
  
I had long feared, given all that I had gone through in my short life.  
  
"I'm not human, am I?" I asked boldly. Phibrizzo jerked as if stung. He  
  
dropped his ice cream, forgotten as he stared at me. "I've suspected for a while  
  
now. The way I'm drawn to anger and fear like a moth to the flame, the chills I  
  
felt when this town held its festival. I've seen you react much the same way.  
  
I'm not human, am I?" He looked down at the melting dessert, then shook his  
  
head.  
  
"No you aren't. Come on." However, my suspicions confirmed, I went further  
  
in my musings.  
  
"Xellos. Xellos is my father." Phibrizzo turned around, his eyes as large as  
  
dinner plates, shock plainly written on his face.  
  
"How did you figure THAT out?" he asked, incredulous.  
  
"He said he had been watching me for a long time. Why else? I fell in the  
  
Jusenkyo pools not even a year ago, and that was my first experience with  
  
magic. He wouldn't have had any other reason to link me and magic." I looked  
  
Phibrizzo in the eye, trying to put the same iron in them as he could. "Unless  
  
he was my father, and knew magic ran through my veins."  
  
"You are correct, as usual." He walked off in the direction of the beat up hovel  
  
he used as a base while slumming as a human. "You're more than worthy of  
  
being my student."  
  
"So you'll accept me?" I asked. Despite the fact that I had known the man for  
  
only a month, there was a bond between Phibrizzo and I. My father... Genma..  
  
had never acted so pleased as I mastered the martial arts as Phibrizzo and  
  
Xellos had as I picked up the art of black magic. In the back of my mind, I  
  
knew why they were so happy; they wished to mold me into another powerful  
  
ally of the mazoku, there to bring chaos and pain into the world. But that was  
  
overruled by the need to fit in somewhere. No one in Nerima had ever  
  
accepted me, and my father had maintained a certain separation from me after  
  
Jusenkyo, as if I were some kind of horrible failure. "You'll take me on as an  
  
official student?"  
  
"We'll see. You're going to be very, very busy for the next few week, my  
  
young friend." he said, with a cruel smile etched into his youthful face.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
I was snapped out of my daydreaming by Akane sitting up on the cot in the  
  
nurse's office. "Jeez, Akane, why'd you have to be so violent? Miss Hinako  
  
really did a number on the class because of you." And, likely as not, was still  
  
adult after the ten minutes or so that had passed since we were dragged in  
  
here. There had been a heck of a lot of ki in the air, and that Happo 50-Yen  
  
Satsu had drained Akane and I worse than usual. I think it might have had  
  
something to do with the fact that I was absorbing the power of all the anger  
  
and fear in that room or something. Gos had been knocked out too, but that  
  
was to be expected. Akane was giving be a hateful glare, as was usual after I  
  
did this to her.  
  
"Why do you have to be such a jerk, Ranma?" she said, as I adopted a 'Who,  
  
me?' look. Just for a quick recharge, really, but she wasn't rising to the bait.  
  
Pity. I watched her leave as she stomped off back to class. I turned to my  
  
apprentice.   
  
"So, Gos, the usual place for your lessons?" I asked. "Oh, and I might need a  
  
few more pictures of Akane, Shampoo and I if Nabiki isn't sufficiently worried  
  
about her little buisness empire." I smiled, remembering what I did to that  
  
transfer student, and thinking of Nabiki's likely reaction.  
  
"Why don't you just sell them yourself and make more money, Master  
  
Ranma?" he asked, slightly fearful and resentful. He was angrier at me now  
  
that he knew I pissed Akane off on purpose, but more fearful of me now that  
  
he knew my true nature. He was also rather obsessed with magic, and had  
  
willingly gone to his worst enemy and begged me to teach him. I accepted him;  
  
after all, it served my needs to have a lackey.  
  
"Well now, that is a secret." I said, with the wink and finger that humans found  
  
so annoying. It was, of course, blatant theft of my true father's routine, but  
  
sometimes the simple ways worked best. The real reason I worked with Nabiki  
  
was that it gave me a hold on her, and she was the only adversary I worried  
  
about. That, and it was fun. "Oh, and what have I said about calling me Master  
  
Ranma?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.  
  
Gosunkugi looked at his feet and mumbled something. "What was that?" I  
  
asked, wanting to end this and get back to class.  
  
"I'm sorry... Master Metallium." he grumbled, scooting toward the door and  
  
then fleeing toward Hinako's English class. I placed my hands on the back of  
  
my head and took my time walking back to class.  
  
Ranma Metallium.  
  
Has a nice ring to it, ne?  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
VISIT THE DELPHI FANFIC FORUM!  
  
forums.delphiforums.com/ranma_fanfics/start 


	2. Ranmazoku Chapter 2

Ranmazoku Chapter 2 - First Contact By PansutoTarou5925  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
DISCLAIMER - I do not own the rights to Slayers nor do I own the rights  
  
to Ranma «. Long live the rightful owners of these two fine anime. This work  
  
is non-commercial and is done only in imitation of Rumiko Takahashi and  
  
Hajime Kanzaka. Imitation is the sincerest flattery, no? US rights owned by  
  
Viz and Software Sculptors.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
Author's note - This story originated from an idea on Nighthawk's page and is  
  
some guy named NesTea's fault. So there. C&C, MSTs, random comments,  
  
letters of praise, hate mail, and accidental clicks on the reply-send button all  
  
welcome. If asked when the next chapter will be out, I will bob and weave, lie,  
  
stall , and bend more truths than a drunken Senator. So there.  
  
ALTAVERSE WARNING - This is an ALTAVERSE. Events, characters and  
  
the like may not resemble canon. People who are rabid canon-thumpers  
  
beware!  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
"Master!" the pitiful little reject of an apprentice says, groveling at my feet.  
  
"Please, Master -" I glare at him. "Er, respected Master, when will you teach  
  
me more magic? I offer only my humblest thanks and gratitude for teaching me  
  
the mysteries of the Lighting spell, but I beg of you, teach me more!" he  
  
whined, taking a posture remarkably similar to the "Crouch of the Wild Tiger"  
  
my father employs on Happousai. Is this why Happousai took on such pathetic  
  
fools as students? If so, I almost respect him.   
  
"Get up, Gosunkugi." He rises, anger still smouldering deep in his eyes. If he  
  
thinks he can really hide his anger from me he's a fool. Of course, if he weren't  
  
a fool, he wouldn't be nearly as useful. " You realize, Gosunkugi, that for  
  
black magic you must draw off of a mazoku. And, as the only mazoku around,  
  
I am the only source to draw from." Smiling, I continued more harshly, "So if  
  
you wish to be stronger, you've got to help me become stronger. I won't  
  
bother teaching you otherwise. You need me far more than I need you." Again  
  
the repressed hate in his sunken eyes. I lean back on the roof - the roof of the  
  
kendo club's building, ironically, where that idiot Kuno can be heard below  
  
ranting about the demon Saotome and not having any clue just how right he is.  
  
"Well, I'll tell you what. Here," I tell him, producing a thick grimoire. It's a  
  
book I lifted from Phibrizzo's study, just a basic text on black magic, without  
  
anything really special. I doubt Phibrizzo will ever notice it's missing, and if he  
  
does I'll just steal it back from Gos and claim I borrowed it. "You can study  
  
this. But I need you to get more photos of the other girls, OK? Nabiki's quite  
  
upset that she has a competitor in photo sales here." I smile inwardly. It's quite  
  
fun being on the other end of the manipulations with the middle Tendo  
  
daughter.  
  
"Er.. if I may ask.. what is the purpose of pissing off Nabiki?" Gosunkugi  
  
asked with a slightly frightened look. He still fears Nabiki... guess I haven't  
  
done enough to him yet. I'm about to tell him it's just revenge when I have the  
  
idea to try a different tactic.   
  
"Well, since you ask Gosunkugi," I said, tilting my head back and putting a  
  
finger on my chin. "That.. is a secret."  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
I arrive in the mountains to see both Phibrizzo and my father talking,  
  
presumably about that Lina Inverse girl they seem obsessed about. "Hey, Pop,  
  
you're right. They really do get all pissed off if you say that." I call out,  
  
deciding to butt in.  
  
"Say what?" my mentor asks.  
  
I wag my finger at him. "Now that's a secret." The look on Phibrizzo's face is  
  
priceless. It seemed that the thought of my father's signature line coming from  
  
anyone else's lips was something he was totally unprepared for, because his  
  
face went from annoyance to realization and back to annoyance.  
  
"Very amusing." he says, turning pointedly away from me. "Now leave us  
  
alone for awhile. We need to discuss our plans." Hmmph. Well, if they want to  
  
ignore me...  
  
The mountain village is so different from Nerima. No cursed martial artists, no  
  
angry kawaiikune tomboys, no Amazons, and no hentai grandmasters on panty  
  
raids. In other words, a thoroughly boring place. 'How can Phibrizzo stand  
  
waiting here? I'd go mad...' The afternoon sky is overcast and gloomy; there is  
  
the distinct scent of coming rains in the air. Which means staying a guy is out.   
  
Giving in to the inevitable, I sit, eating a cone of ice cream. It's the one  
  
pleasure I have in both bodies, though it's muted now, somewhat  
  
disappointing, now that I've acquired more sophisticated tastes. The sweet  
  
tang of fear from terrified students, the heady intoxication of Akane's  
  
unsurpassed anger, the bottomless ecstacy of Ryouga's peerless depression,  
  
the mild flavor of Gosunkugi's resentment... those were the real treats, because  
  
they were a taste of power.   
  
"Power." I state, clinically, as I pause from my destruction of the ice cream  
  
cone. What is it about power - the ability to shape one's own destiny - that  
  
made it so irresistible? Why couldn't I resist it?   
  
Maybe it was the fact that I never had power over my life before. Genma had  
  
made sure of it. He wished me to become the Master of Anything Goes and  
  
carry on the school. To marry Akane, to be a great martial artist. But what did  
  
I want to do? I held the power now. But I didn't know what I wanted to do  
  
with it. Absently wiping the melted ice cream off the back of my hand, I drop  
  
the cone and rest my chin on my hand. What could I do? There were only two  
  
paths I could possibly take from here.  
  
I could go back to just being Ranma Saotome, martial arts whiz. But that really  
  
wasn't an option anymore. There was another Art here, a more powerful and  
  
mysterious Art. Anyone could be a master of the martial arts. But this Art took  
  
something more.. something unique.   
  
Or I could more fully embrace my dark heritage, become a full member of the  
  
Mazoku society. I could ask Phibrizzo to become his general soon - that would  
  
grant me additional power, and Phibrizzo was sure to grant it, as he had lost  
  
his general in the War so many years ago. I might even be able to eventually  
  
move into the renegade Gaav's position, if father manages to defeat him. I  
  
think he will... after all, Gaav the Chaos Dragon could fittingly be replaced by  
  
Ranma the Chaos Demon. I stopped cold.  
  
I had thought that my mother wasn't Nodoka. But my name.. it raised  
  
suspicions. Ranma meant both Wild Horse and Chaos Demon. Could she truly  
  
be my mother, and have snuck one by Genma? At least then she would have  
  
taste... Or maybe it was just fate that I would have such a name? Perhaps it  
  
was a sign telling me which way to go.  
  
I dropped the crushed remains of my cone and walked back out of town.  
  
Those two should be done by now.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
Xellos was gone when I got back to Phibrizzo. "Hey," I yelled out, Phibrizzo  
  
turning around.  
  
"Hey yourself, Ranma. I'm still not going to teach you for that smartass remark  
  
earlier." He drew himself up, tightening his belt and managing a stern face  
  
totally at odds with his childish exterior. "You should learn to respect your  
  
elders!" he said, imitating what the shopkeeper would tell Phibrizzo every time  
  
we ate in town.   
  
"Yeah, right." I said, laughing. "You really aren't going to teach me anything  
  
today? Aww man, I don't wanna have to go back to Nerima yet." I said,  
  
grumpily and pouting as only a cute redhead can.  
  
"Well, you can help me then, I don't care." He paused and gave me an  
  
appraising look. "You know, if you wore a cape and an orange shirt, you'd be  
  
a dead ringer for Lina Inverse when you're a girl."   
  
I looked surprised, although I actually already knew that. "Really? What's with  
  
all the interest in this Lina girl anyway? You and Pop are always going on  
  
about her and her friends, the rocky guy and whats-her-face."  
  
"And Gourry Gabriev. I think Gourry's the key to Lina, actually.. but anyway.  
  
She's a powerful human sorceress, very skilled in black magic. She seems to  
  
have the favor of the Lord of Nightmares. In any case, she's successfully used  
  
the Giga Slave before." I whistled.  
  
"Isn't that the spell that can destroy the world or something?" I asked.  
  
"Yeah. She might be confident enough to cast it again. At least I hope so." he  
  
added. " Anyhow, we're using her as a cat's paw against Gaav. We'll bring the  
  
renegade back to justice." Among other things, I added silently. You're  
  
certainly interested in seeing that Giga Slave used again. I've seen that look  
  
before.. on the old lech whenever he had a bucket. Granny will definitely be  
  
interested in hearing this.  
  
"So, she's a danger to us?"  
  
"A danger to you, maybe. I'm another matter." he said, puffing his chest out.  
  
"No mere mortal can beat me. I'm the greatest of Shabranigdo's lieutenants,  
  
the invincible Hellmaster who led the forces of darkness to victory over the  
  
Water Dragon a thousand years ago." He pointed a finger at me, admonishing  
  
me. "A little thing like a Dragon Slave or two will barely slow me down. You,  
  
though, you're still young and relatively weak. You'd be toast if you went  
  
against this Inverse."  
  
"Whatever. " I looked around. "Hey, it must have been later than I thought. I'll  
  
head back to Nerima. You won't see me 'til day after tomorrow, I have an  
  
English test and Hinako will kill me if I don't pass it." I walked around the  
  
mountain and back to the gate Phibrizzo had constructed and opened it.  
  
Picking up a nearby boulder, I figured that it would do quite nicely, and threw  
  
it in. "There ya go. You'll never suspect a thing." Grinning madly, I started to  
  
fly off to my true destination.   
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
I entered quietly, noticing the smoke curling gently towards the roof. "Hiya,  
  
Granny," I said, knowing how much she hated being called that, "I've got  
  
some news for you."  
  
"Oh, really? And what is our esteemed Hellmaster up to lately? He's been  
  
keeping us in the dark." my grandmother replied, snubbing out her cigarette on  
  
the arm of her chair. "He's been less careful around you, I think. We should  
  
make him pay for that."  
  
"Of course." Playing double agent is difficult. Of course, what in my life isn't?  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
I returned to Nerima later in the evening, really needing to get some studying  
  
done. It was one thing if I was just going to be an amazing godlike martial  
  
artist renowned throughout Asia, but if I planned to become an evil overlord I  
  
needed to get better grades. No one would be able to take an evil overlord  
  
who limped through high school seriously. Hmm, Akane's happy, damn. . .  
  
what the heck happened to Happousai?  
  
The old pervert looked as if he had been run over by a truck. It wasn't terribly  
  
unusual to find him sporting a few lumps and lots of bruises, but someone had  
  
landed a good one on him. "Hey, Akane, what happened to the Freak?"  
  
"Oh, you wouldn't believe it. He was chasing the girl's tennis team when, all of  
  
the sudden, this boulder suddenly appeared and fell on him." Oops. "Even the  
  
kami hate this stupid old man." Akane said, slapping away Happousai's feeble  
  
attempt to grope her.  
  
"Something like that, anyway." If my boulder had to land on someone, at least  
  
it was Happousai. Unfortunately, the 'divine retribution' against a known  
  
pervert had put Akane in a good mood, thus destroying my hard work. I had to  
  
do something to piss off Akane fast.. think, Ranma, what would Xellos do?  
  
Well, he was with Lina, they'd probably eat. Which would work, I suppose.  
  
"Oh, I wanted to tell Kasumi something. Hold on." I quickly dashed past her  
  
and into the kitchen, Kasumi's little kingdom of peace and happiness. It was  
  
nauseating. "Hey, Kasumi!" I greeted her, hiding my revulsion at the happy  
  
little tune she was humming and her sweet smile.  
  
"Oh, hello, Ranma-kun. Doctor Tofu let me borrow this new book on Thai  
  
spices. Isn't life wonderful?" AAARGH! What have I done to deserve this?  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
It really wasn't that difficult to get Kasumi out of the kitchen and out of the  
  
house after a rumor of live eels at half price. And as predictably as day  
  
following night or Ryouga getting lost in a maze, Akane immediately jumped  
  
into the void left by her sister's absence and promised to make a feast fit for a  
  
dumpster. Not only would I get to break Akane's heart by retching at her  
  
disgusting so called food, but, as an added bonus, I got to make the rest of the  
  
family miserable as well. In fact, their palpable aura of fear was doing very well  
  
in getting rid of the queasiness Kasumi's kitchen never failed to bring out in  
  
me.   
  
"Ranma, please tel me she's making curry." Nabiki asked me, taking fearful  
  
glances into the kitchen.   
  
"Nope. I told her I'd like to try something new today." Asking Akane to try  
  
something new was like bringing Happousai to a swimsuit shop. It was just  
  
begging for trouble. It was quite amusing to watch the blood drain from  
  
Nabiki's face as she considered that, and my smile was genuine, instead of the  
  
happy-idiot facade I normally kept on my face.  
  
Nabiki walked slowly, zombielike, to the table and sat herself down. "My life is  
  
over." She desperately turned to me. "Ranma, it isn't too late to order takeout!  
  
We can save ourselves! Or at least," she said, watching my face, " I can save  
  
ME." She got up and ran to the phone. Good. That will save me some work in  
  
first annoying Akane.  
  
"All right! Dinner is... Nabi-ki!" Akane yelled, slamming the tray of food on  
  
the table. Genma and his gutless friend had already left, leaving only me,  
  
Nabiki, and Happousai to face the terrors of Akane's cooking. Given Nabiki's  
  
attempts to wriggle out of the meal and Akane's rapidly vanishing patience, I  
  
might get to witness a rare Akane blowup at someone other than me. "Nabiki,  
  
I worked really hard on this! The least you can do is eat it!"  
  
"No, no, I can definitely do less. Besides, I already ordered pizza, and I don't  
  
want to waste money." A knock at the door saved Nabiki, who hurried to  
  
retrieve the pizza. It was a testament to the power of Akane's cooking that  
  
Nabiki was willing to order pizza, because the pizza parlor hired trained ninjas  
  
to deliver food even through the most vicious Nerima street battles and you  
  
certainly paid for the service. I waited until everyone, including the still  
  
recovering Happousai, sat at the table. Akane's cooking was apparently dead,  
  
whatever it was, and not emitting toxic fumes. That was good enough for me.  
  
It wasn't like I really needed to eat it. I had plenty of bad feelings about to  
  
keep me healthy.   
  
"OK, Ranma, try some!" Akane said, smiling. It was kinda funny, but ever  
  
since the Picollet Chardin incident I haven't actually eaten a bite of Akane's  
  
cooking. The Gourmet de Foie Gras comes in handy with her meals. No one  
  
seems to question why the koi die a lot lately either. Not that I would waste  
  
this meal on the fish when I could force-feed Happousai and Nabiki instead.  
  
"I'm not ordering from them again. This is almost as bad as Akane's cooking."   
  
Distracted, I forget to playact getting sick. Almost as bad? She's improved? I  
  
take a cautious bite. Immediately the world begins to swim in and out of focus  
  
as the poisonous food attacked my system, and I collapsed on the table,  
  
coughing. Happousai also turned green and started to wretch.   
  
"Please... kill me... now..." Happousai croaked as he crawled towards Akane  
  
shakily. Akane lit up with a wonderful aura of pure anger, and I unwittingly lit  
  
up with a huge grin as the wonderful taste of anger reached my tortured  
  
mazoku senses. Damn food screwing up my head... hmm, she's really mad ...  
  
you know.. that mallet might hurt.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
There are several benefits to being a mazoku. One is healing rapidly even from  
  
physical and magical damage, with fairly high resistance to such attacks in the  
  
first place - which definitely proves the tomboy has a lot of muscle. Another is  
  
actually liking that pain in the first place. It had taken years before I noticed  
  
that the other people around me didn't enjoy pain or suffering, mostly because  
  
baka Genma had to keep me out in the blasted wilderness my entire life. It's  
  
probably a good thing, or I probably would have developed Ryouga's new  
  
Shishi Hokodan move independently and killed the fat fool at some point.  
  
Probably the Cat-Fist. Heck, I probably would have killed him anyways with  
  
just the Cat-Fist if it wasn't for that. I mean, I might enjoy a little pain, but you  
  
can have too much of a good thing.  
  
Akane's mallet strike, however, was already gone, and I was alone in my room.  
  
I'd bet on Kasumi having brought me - I could still feel that horrible aura of  
  
niceness over the room. Or maybe that was just from her neatening the futons  
  
earlier. Whatever. I had things to practice.  
  
My studies with Phibrizzo, and direct experience with my grandmother Zelas  
  
told me that all mazoku can take several different forms, just like the dragons  
  
can turn into people. Whereas Gaav was that ugly demon-dragon and the  
  
others had even more hideous and warped shapes, my family had.. well, come  
  
to think of it, our real bodies looked pretty hideous and warped too. But we  
  
could also look like a wolf, and I figured I needed practice in wolf and demon  
  
forms in a place where there wasn't a sorcerer on every corner. I might be able  
  
to squash them like the insects they were, but it would get annoying fast. And I  
  
needed to practice teleporting. Fortunately, hovering and flying came natural to  
  
me. I can't decide if it's instinct or twelve years of intense training in Saotome-  
  
ryuu. So first...  
  
My body elongated, dropping to the ground as my hands became enormous  
  
paws, thick fur extending in every direction. My face stretched out, a most  
  
disturbing sensation, my nose melting and flowing into a canine snout, teeth  
  
stretching into huge canine fangs. A tail stretched out, moving down my pants  
  
leg, and then the clothes I had been wearing burst as I turned into my huge  
  
wolf form, so similar to the ones on Wolf Pack Island. I then concentrated all  
  
my energies on picturing the tree that Kuno chopped down on my first day of  
  
school.   
  
I popped back right next to the tree stump and, running flat out, sprang to the  
  
top of the school with a bounce off the gym's roof. I opened my mouth at the  
  
now full moon and let off a horrible howl, magically enhanced to carry through  
  
the night. Then I ran quickly in the direction of the water canal, leaping and  
  
crisscrossing it as I searched for what I was looking for. After all, I had more  
  
to do than just terrorize people on a walk.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
It was five days later, with the "Wolf Demon of Tokyo" being sighted in  
  
various wards of the city, that I undertook a more detailed survey of one of my  
  
targets. It was one of the main pumping stations for the Azabu Juuban ward,  
  
and I was on the roof of a nearby office building, observing the lame security  
  
they had. You'd think after those fanatics released nerve gas in the subway a  
  
few years back they'd guard the place a little better. If someone put something  
  
in the water, it would be very bad for the city. And with a giant wolf, namely  
  
me, terrorizing the places nightly, they should really beef up security. Shaking  
  
my head, I sat down on the edge of the roof and thought about how to best put  
  
my plan in motion if I ever needed to. The slight sound of a few loose pebbles  
  
on the tar roof alert me to a presence - Nabiki's, she's always been sneaky -  
  
before the person is even three steps from the roof door.   
  
"Hey, Ranma, are you looking for that wolf demon?" she asked without  
  
preamble.   
  
"How'd you know where to look for me?" I asked, neatly evading the  
  
question. I turned to look at her. Nabiki is smart, but her smugness gives her a  
  
lot of holes in her mental defenses. She's much like her sister in that respect:  
  
where her sister is good physically on offense but pitiful against any real  
  
opponent on the defensive, so Nabiki was excellent on the mental warpath, but  
  
was poor at dealing with other people who could manipulate. The difference  
  
between the sister was that Nabiki would adapt pretty fast if she ever found out  
  
how badly I can fool her. Or anyone else, for that matter, but Nabiki, Cologne  
  
and I are really the only people in town who are smart enough for it to matter.  
  
Cologne, now, she knew I was smarter than I let on. That's the reason she and  
  
Shampoo have been bothering me so much. Strong, smart, and handsome -  
  
they knew they'd never find another one like me. Of course, I can't let that  
  
smirk reach the surface, else Nabiki will think something is up, but it's there, if  
  
you're wondering.  
  
Looks like Nabiki has finally decided what she's going to say. "It's simple,  
  
Saotome, I had some people who owed me a favor track you the past few  
  
nights. Two days ago they saw you arrive at the Tomobiki pumping station  
  
after that huge wolf attacked it. And last night you were at our own Nerima  
  
station. What gives, Saotome, are you playing hero?" Her people.. must be that  
  
guy at the pizza place, he's the only person who owes Nabiki and could track  
  
me. Or maybe Kuno lent her Sasuke for some photos. Whatever. I suppose it  
  
really doesn't matter. I turn back to the building and ignore Nabiki, smiling  
  
now that she can't see me.  
  
"I don't need you getting torn up out here, Saotome. It's bad enough having  
  
you and your friends destroy the house on a weekly basis, but I'm not paying  
  
for your medical expenses too." I waved her off. "What, you see something?"  
  
"No, just trying to shut you up." There, I could feel anger and frustration. It  
  
was kind of funny, Nabiki might have a perfect poker face, but I could see her  
  
cards. The two of us sat on the roof, me smiling at the station, Nabiki frowning  
  
behind me, for another minute, before Nabiki turned around. That's when we  
  
heard the abortive yell from the nearby alley. I jumped over to the ledge  
  
overlooking the alley, where two thugs had jumped a tall girl in a green skirt.   
  
"They're going to rape her!" Nabiki whispered panickily, as if her voice would  
  
reach them if she yelled. I had better ears than most and I could just barely  
  
make out what they were saying.  
  
"No they aren't, jumpy, they're just mugging her." I said, leaning on the  
  
railing.  
  
"And you're just going to let them mug her? What happened to your honor as  
  
a martial artist?" she fired back angrily.  
  
"That one's got a gun." I said, pointing to the one deeper in the alley.  
  
"So? Do something!"  
  
"Why don't you?" I replied, and shoved her off the roof. Of course, Nabiki  
  
started screaming the second she fell off, so I teleported to ground level and  
  
took the crooks out by hitting their sleep spot as they gawked at the apparent  
  
suicide. Then I walked under Nabiki and caught her. She immediately slapped  
  
me across the face.  
  
"You jerk! I can't believe you just did that!" she screamed, as the girl I just  
  
rescued looked at me, the crooks, and then the top of the building.  
  
"Whaaat?" I said, aping incomprehension. "I caught you. What's your  
  
problem?"  
  
"You just threw me off! I could have been killed!" she continued, as the tall  
  
girl kept swiveling her head back and forth. She's going to get a crick in her  
  
neck if she keeps it up.  
  
"Bah, talk about ungrateful." I said, rolling my eyes and turning around,  
  
accidentally running into the girl I had saved.  
  
"That was AWESOME!" she gushed. "I can't believe it! You just jumped off  
  
the roof and clobbered those guys and saved that girl and me and wow! It's  
  
like a Jackie Chan movie!"  
  
"Uh.. sure. Glad to be of help." I said, sweatdropping. I turned and left,  
  
following the still-shaky Nabiki, but I heard one last remark from the tall girl.  
  
"He looks just like my sempai!" Great. Another lovestruck admirer.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
It was a week after that, and having to deal with constant harassment from  
  
Nabiki, that I discovered why Akane loves P-chan so much. Apparently, any  
  
strange, ugly animal looks cute to her, because I had been trying to manipulate  
  
my wolf form to look less huge and terrifying, and ended up looking like a  
  
fantastically scruffy small, black-tipped fur wolf. I wasn't in the least bit cute,  
  
had even sent Asuza screaming for the hills when she saw me (I chased her for  
  
a while. Although she was so sickeningly sweet it was like eating a candy bar, I  
  
had to pay her back for that whole Martial Arts Skating fiasco), yet Akane had  
  
hugged me and basically dragged me back to the dojo.  
  
"What's THAT?" Nabiki asked as Akane dragged my ugly, scraggly butt  
  
through the door.  
  
"This is a dog I found on the streets. I think it might be part wolf. He's cute,  
  
isn't he?" she said, smiling. I rolled my eyes until I remembered wolves aren't  
  
supposed to do that. Fortunately, Nabiki rolled her eyes, too, so she didn't  
  
notice.  
  
"That thing is the ugliest looking dog I've ever seen." she said. I winced,  
  
getting a protective coo from Akane.  
  
"Look, you're upsetting him." Akane said, frowning. "Besides, if I wash him  
  
up, he won't look so scruffy." She tied me to the post I usually practiced  
  
punching on and got a big tub of hot water ready. I whined loudly. Maybe  
  
she'd let me go and I could hide somewhere. I didn't want to be her damn dog.  
  
"You know, you won't be able to keep him here. He might eat P-chan." Nabiki  
  
said. On the OTHER hand, I could grow to like this dog thing. I started  
  
sniffing for the little porker, hoping for once he was here instead of Outer  
  
Mongolia or wherever the hell he was when he wasn't here. Vengeance is  
  
mine, Ryouga. You won't even know its me. I began to snicker. "And it  
  
sounds like he's sick."  
  
Akane dragged me into the tub. I made a big production out of dragging my  
  
feet and making a huge mess when she wrestled me into the tub. After a long  
  
and valiant battle, I managed to drag Akane in as well, earning laughter from  
  
Nabiki. "This is priceless! I'm getting this on tape." She quickly hustled up to  
  
her room. Meanwhile, Akane was getting more and more frustrated as she  
  
wrestled with me in the soapy water. The best part was, she wasn't going to  
  
mallet a dog, so I could annoy her as much as I wanted. Except.. well, then I  
  
wouldn't be able to harass Ryouga too, because she'd kick me out. I settled  
  
down in the tub. Then, after she finished, I shook myself off on her. Heh.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
Damnit, she is sooo unoriginal in her names. D-chan. 'Dog-cute. See?' I  
  
mimed. Akane had cooked up a plateful of glop, which I promptly buried in the  
  
backyard. Wolves have it easy. Or dogs, depending on how blind to reality you  
  
are. Though I felt sorry for whatever worms and bugs lived in the ground  
  
behind the Tendo house. They would die a slow and painful death. I came back  
  
in and decided to lay down near Akane and wait patiently for P-chan to show  
  
up. Unfortunately, Akane knocked her glass of water off the table onto my  
  
back. I noticed my paws get red-tipped fur and I panicked, bolting out of her  
  
room before she could notice. Dammit, this curse even affects me in other  
  
bodies? That bites!  
  
I jumped in the dryer and stuck my head out. Kasumi would have wolf fur all  
  
over the next load of laundry, but that was her problem, and I'd never gotten  
  
to taste Kasumi's anger before, anyways. No one would ever look for a wolf in  
  
the dryer. It was a pretty tight fit for me, after all. Hmm... my body was a bit  
  
smaller, undeniably female, and now reddish instead of that cool dark-tipped  
  
fur. I suppose I could change back into a human and grab some clean laundry  
  
before anyone notices me. But just as I stick my head out the dryer door, of  
  
course Nabiki walks in right then. Damn!  
  
You could almost see the gears in Nabiki's head turning. It really wasn't that  
  
hard to figure out, really, that I was the wolf. It was just what she would do  
  
with the information... "Ah, Saotome, I see you're a werewolf." She walked  
  
over, using the typical Nabiki smirk. "Is that why you've been visiting the  
  
water pumps? Another werewolf challenging you?" Of course, she's totally  
  
clueless. Good. Might as well let her think that's the truth or she'll just pester  
  
me even more, and maybe then she might figure out the real truth. "So, what  
  
are you going to OW!" she yelled as I nipped her hand. She then held her  
  
hand up in terror and looked at the teeth marks. "I.. I've been bitten by a  
  
werewolf..." she stammered, falling back into the corner, still staring at her  
  
hand. I used the distraction to change back into a human and get into some  
  
clean clothes. "Now.. now I'll turn into a werewolf."  
  
A funny idea occurred to me. "Ah, I'm sorry about that. Look, Nabiki, I'll tell  
  
you how to avoid becoming a werewolf. Just don't tell anyone about me being  
  
a werewolf, OK?" Inside, it was all I could do to avoid bursting out in laughter  
  
as I saw her nod. "All right, here's what you have to do..."  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
"Why is Nabiki rolling around naked in a patch of wolfsbane?" Gosunkugi  
  
asked me. We were in the Tokyo Botanical Gardens tonight, not the usual  
  
place for us to meet. Nabiki had no idea we were there.  
  
"Never mind that. I just need to borrow your camera. You never know when  
  
blackmail material might be needed on Nabiki." I took some shots of Nabiki  
  
while she rolled around and redressed. After she left I pocketed the film. "And  
  
now to business... uh..." Gos had developed a slight nosebleed.  
  
"Does she do this every Wednesday?" Gos asked. Weird. I never figured Gos  
  
for a pervert.. what am I THINKING? He only stalks Akane...  
  
"Er.. no." I said, sweatdropping. "I'd like you to try to curse Kuno again. That  
  
laryngitis was a godsend, and I don't want to have to listen to that egotistical  
  
moron one second longer than I have to."  
  
Gos gave me a puzzled look. "But why don't you just curse him?"  
  
Because I can't be everywhere at once and I have to run all the way out to the  
  
aqueducts tonight. "Now that... is a secret." I said, winking and teleporting to  
  
the front of the gardens. I quickly jumped up and roofhopped away, leaving  
  
Gos to fend to his own devices.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
Wow.. that dragged on for a while. I didn't expect it to get THAT long 32 kb  
  
of Ranmazoku. That's double the length of Monday's update. So I'll cut off  
  
this section of Chapter 2 for your downloadable pleasure and continue  
  
Ranma's exploits in Chapter 2B, which will be out approximately whenever.  
  
Thanks to all the people who voted, had miscellaneous comments, and  
  
suggestions. Your comments are all appreciated. More random comments,  
  
C&C, they're always welcome. I'll try to pump out more before exams start  
  
but I offer no promises.  
  
Oh, and wild guesses are always welcome if you feel like predicting Ranma's  
  
actions. I always try to respond promptly - I'm on the computer most of the  
  
day, so I generally respond fast and often.  
  
  
  
it's on Nighthawk's page  
  
www.geocities.com/NighthawkTM/index.html  
  
and Crossover Corner  
  
www.geocities.com/animecrossovers 


	3. Ranmazoku Chapter 3

Ranmazoku Chapter 2 - First Contact By PansutoTarou5925  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
DISCLAIMER - I do not own the rights to Slayers nor do I own the rights  
  
to Ranma «. Long live the rightful owners of these two fine anime. This work  
  
is non-commercial and is done only in imitation of Rumiko Takahashi and  
  
Hajime Kanzaka. Imitation is the sincerest flattery, no? US rights owned by  
  
Viz and Software Sculptors.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
Author's note - This story originated from an idea on Nighthawk's page and is  
  
some guy named NesTea's fault. So there. C&C, MSTs, random comments,  
  
letters of praise, hate mail, and accidental clicks on the reply-send button all  
  
welcome. If asked when the next chapter will be out, I will bob and weave, lie,  
  
stall , and bend more truths than a drunken Senator. So there.  
  
ALTAVERSE WARNING - This is an ALTAVERSE. Events, characters and  
  
the like may not resemble canon. People who are rabid canon-thumpers  
  
beware!  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
I was adrift on the Astral Plane.  
  
You must understand, we mazoku are more creatures of thought and power,  
  
nightmare made form, than the sort of solid, walking embodiments of evil most  
  
think we are. It's why solid food does not feed a mazoku, but the greed, petty  
  
anger and cruelty of a pitiful excuse of a 'father' could nourish a young  
  
mazoku. It's for the best that I was born what I am, and not what they think I  
  
am.  
  
I was on a fishing expedition, you see, a search which had occupied my wasted  
  
nighttime hours, which otherwise would have been wasted pretending to sleep.  
  
In a way, I no longer needed sleep because I was asleep when I was walking  
  
abroad, interacting with the world. To me, the real world is the dream, to be  
  
altered at my whim. The dreams and nightmares are the stuff of my reality. I  
  
could see and feel the dreams of the other residents of the Tendo house, but I  
  
had bigger fish to fry tonight: no more poking around Nabiki's dreams to lead  
  
her around by the nose. I needed some serious hardware, and that meant  
  
poking around the Nekohanten. Dealing with Happy's perversions could  
  
probably drive a mazoku insane.  
  
I had a very specific purpose in mind. I knew from the start that this was one  
  
of the Four Pillars L-sama had constructed, the pillar of the Dark Lord known  
  
as Death Fog. Just as in the Overworld and Shabranigdo's pillar, there would  
  
be items of vast magical power left behind by the Dark Lord in question, items  
  
that, with the ridiculously low number of serious magic users on this planet.  
  
Most of the heavy duty magic users seemed to be in Juuban and near Jusenkyo,  
  
but none would be a match for even the minor mazoku I currently was.  
  
Meaning that if I had no competition for such objects of power, and I could  
  
drain them to further my own strength. Such items had been picked over and  
  
already drained by the five Mazoku Lords of my family homeworld, but here I  
  
could gain a significant advantage if I could hoard such sources of power. Of  
  
course, I already had my master plan in place, but there's no such thing as too  
  
much power. And if I was reading events right, Gaav would be dead soon.  
  
That would create a hole in the ranks of the mazoku like never before. There's  
  
be an open spot in the highest levels, and Seigraam, Gaav's flunky, would  
  
probably be dead too. While Pops might be first in line for the position, it  
  
wasn't like I wasn't going to pass up this golden opportunity.  
  
So that's why I was off poking around in Cologne's mind. Which is a hell of a  
  
lot more dangerous than poking around in Nabiki's mind. For one thing, the  
  
old ghoul was on the alert for mental tampering, and for another she knew all  
  
sorts of nasty stuff... childhood rhymes and warm memories of children and  
  
grandchildren, for instance. At least it wasn't as bad as Kasumi's mind,  
  
though... I began to prod at her memories, inserting fleeting, random images of  
  
raw magical power and seeing what kind of response that got.  
  
The very first thing I got, an instant after I began, was the image of a guy with  
  
gold hair and wings, looking like some cross between human and an eagle, but  
  
in the eye of Cologne's mind tinged with evil. It was also the first time I've  
  
ever consciously tasted fear from the old mummy. The image was hazy and  
  
indistinct, though, as if she had never actually seen it. Maybe it's the  
  
Joketsuzoku bogeyman or something. All sorts of things on him carried a name  
  
and a legend in Cologne's thoughts, but it was a set of gems he wore that  
  
seemed to carry a current of pride when Cologne thought of them. Hmm.. so  
  
the amazons stole.. Demon's Blood! I involuntarily flared my power in my  
  
excitement, and Cologne instantly went aware in her mind, the image of  
  
Saffron vanishing into the fog of her mind. In his place stood a mature woman,  
  
perhaps 40, with black hair just starting to go grey, very strong and exuding  
  
martial skill - not the ancient hag I know now, nor the young girl I saw when  
  
we used the Nanban Mirror. So this, then, is what Cologne's self image is.  
  
Fascinating.  
  
"Show yourself!" she yelled, clutching the talismans. She looked back and  
  
forth, trying to find the intruder in her mind. She held the talismans. "I don't  
  
know who you are," she whispered viciously, "but you will never get these  
  
talismans! They are a treasure of the Joketsuzoku, and you will suffer our  
  
wrath!" She was still glancing, for I had not yet emerged from the mists. I  
  
laughed, a deep booming effect that reverberated and seemed to come from  
  
everywhere.   
  
I oozed out of the mists, taking my inhuman monster form. No sense having  
  
her tie this to me. "Amazon." I snarled, dropping the cheesy echo effect and  
  
using as guttural a voice as I could manage. "What makes you think you can  
  
dare best me in the battlefield of the dream!" I laughed again, sans echo.  
  
Cologne smiled, the knowing smile I've come to know. "I have many  
  
techniques to use against you, demon! Behold the secret unknown even to the  
  
greatest of the Indian mystics, the Iron Soul Spear!" She formed a spear by  
  
pure willpower and fury, directing the mighty blast against me in an attempt to  
  
eject me from her mind. Of course, she was doomed to failure. Cologne might  
  
have more experience fighting here, where the normal rules of combat went  
  
out the window and will alone determined the victor, but I was born to this. I  
  
absorbed the spear, accepting the anger and hate she had used to make it, and  
  
grew larger, losing my form and turning into a great black mist.  
  
"Hah! You cannot resist me, little Amazon. I will take your talismans..." I said,  
  
enveloping her and firing nightmares - actually just Happousai's stray thoughts  
  
rerouted into her head, but that was probably worse, anyhow - as she screamed  
  
and hacked into me with a sword she had pulled out of nowhere. Just before  
  
she went back under she realized what she faced.  
  
"MAZOKU!!!!"  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
The next day, I was jarred awake by Akane. It was still dark out.  
  
"What's the big idea?" I said sleepily. "Not even oyaji is up yet." She kicked  
  
awake the panda in question. I stretched and made like I was going back to  
  
sleep to keep up the ruse.  
  
"Cologne wants to see us right away. Says it's important. Or at least, that's  
  
what Mousse is telling us. She and Shampoo are still at the Nekohanten." she  
  
said, " They say some horrible monster is trying to steal their treasure and want  
  
us there right away."  
  
"Jeez, OK, you'd think it could wait. I mean, monsters gotta rest too, don't ya  
  
think?" Ranma said, smiling internally 'Well, I hate a fight in the middle of the  
  
night, anyhow...'   
  
"Ranma, this isn't a joking matter! Now get moving!" Akane yelled, chasing  
  
me out the door with a bucketful of water.  
  
It is a few minutes later that I find myself in the Nekohanten, watching a very  
  
distraught Cologne. She looked like she hadn't gotten enough sleep last night,  
  
heh heh. It was a struggle to keep a grin off my face as she yawned her way  
  
through the explanation. "Ahh.." she said, drinking some tea. "I need to warn  
  
you all of a very powerful demon among us. Somewhere in Tokyo is a being of  
  
almost unrivaled magical strength. He is searching for items of magical power.  
  
I felt I should warn all of you with Jusenkyo curses that he might come after  
  
the power of the magic in your curses." Actually, I hadn't thought of that, but  
  
it was a good idea. Well, maybe not. Nevermind. My own experience had  
  
shown that Jusenkyo's magic was beyond my control. I'd probably end up  
  
absorbing the other curses if I went that route.. 'Sorry, sir, you have curse of  
  
female winged pig-cat riding panda fighting yeti riding bull carrying eel and  
  
crane!' Yech. I tuned out the disgusting mental image (though I filed it away to  
  
stick in Happousai's dream if he ever fantasized about my girl side in one of his  
  
ecchi dreams again) and tuned back into Cologne's speech. " -thrive off  
  
negative feeling and emotions such as depression, anger, and jealousy. I think  
  
for the moment we all know what this means. Akane, Shampoo, Mousse,  
  
Ukyou.. you four really need to calm down until the danger passes. We need to  
  
deny the mazoku such a potent source of nourishment." Damn! Well, at least I  
  
had Ryouga.. "Tell Ryouga if you see him, though he is probably safe." OK, so  
  
I still have Happi to piss off most of the female population of Nerima. No  
  
problem. "But, I believe the demon has something specific in mind."  
  
"What is, Great-Grandmother?"  
  
"These." she said, opening a box and revealing four reddish stones set in silver.  
  
To me they seemed to be blinding in their power, and yet I had been unable to  
  
detect them when they were in the box. "These are the legendary Demon's  
  
Blood talismans, taken from Saffron the Phoenix God in a great battle a  
  
thousand years ago. They are said to contain the power of the four lords of the  
  
Mazoku. This box itself was constructed to hide the power of the talismans  
  
eight hundred and twenty-three years ago."  
  
"She saw it being built, that's how she knows," Genma whispered, earning a  
  
bop on the head form Cologne.  
  
"None knows how to use them save the Phoenix God. But in his hands, they  
  
were a tool of unparalleled terror, amplifying his already incredible power to  
  
levels unthinkable by any but the gods Saffron claimed he was one of. That is  
  
why a thousand Amazons attacked him, seeking to take these stones away  
  
before he destroyed us all. He nearly did anyhow: only two survived." Cologne  
  
paused to smile. "One of them was my own ancestors, Toothpaste." I ignored  
  
the irrelevant history lesson: if she didn't know how to use the talismans, I  
  
could drain them to the tiniest fraction of their power without her noticing. "In  
  
any case, if they were bad in the hands of the Phoenix God, they would be a  
  
catastrophe in the hands of such a demon as a mazoku." Akane picked up a  
  
talisman and inspected it, seeing the Chinese inscribed on it.  
  
"What does this say?" she said, pointing at the inscribed writing.  
  
"Ah. Those are the names of the four Dark Lords the stones represent." I  
  
welcomed her question, as it had everyone passing around the talismans. I  
  
made a show out of inspecting each one , draining it carefully, so as not to  
  
raise suspicion. I would need to do this carefully, and provide the 'mazoku' she  
  
expected so she could forget all about these stones. I smiled as I felt the  
  
familiar energies of Shabranigdo from the second talisman. "As I recall  
  
correctly, the legends record them as Death Fog, Chaotic Blue, Dark Star, and  
  
Shabranigdo."  
  
"So there are four of these demons in the world?" I said, feigning ignorance as  
  
I drained the fourth talisman. The energies were familiar, and earned an internal  
  
scowl Apparently the reason I couldn't destroy the Jusenkyo curse was  
  
because Death Fog's magic had created the place.  
  
Cologne shook her head. "No. Only one is said to exist in each world, and the  
  
four worlds they reside in are connected. In this world, the forces of the  
  
demons and the gods destroyed each other, and they were sealed away in many  
  
pieces across the world." I smiled, my power had grown fivefold and all I  
  
needed to do was act normal. "Yes, Ranma, that means that the one we fight  
  
cannot be powerful by their standards. Nor is he even from this world." She  
  
got up and hopped over to the counter for a second. "Sixteen years ago, there  
  
was another mazoku, who came across the village. He was looking for  
  
Jusendo, the spring that feeds Jusenkyo. None of the three tribes that lives in  
  
the valley, the Musk, we Amazons, or the Phoenix Mountain people, wished to  
  
see him accomplish whatever mission he had with the spring. Despite our  
  
combined best efforts we were unable to destroy him."  
  
"Then how are we supposed to fight such a creature?" Genma roared, fearful.  
  
"Hopefully, we don't," Cologne said. She put the talismans back in her box.  
  
"But.. if worse comes to worst, I need to know that I can depend on you. I  
  
cannot fight off such a demon alone. Ranma, Genma, I would need you two to  
  
keep it away from the talismans until I am able to use a powerful scroll I have.  
  
It should destroy the demon."  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
At lunch later that day, having already been asked to defend possessions  
  
against a crime I had already carried out, Nabiki came up to me. "I need to  
  
speak with you, Saotome." she announced loudly, more to Hiroshi and  
  
Daisuke than to me. I shrugged and followed her. We went back by the Kendo  
  
shed, where people were unlikely to interrupt us.  
  
"OK, Saotome, you still owe me 1500 yen. I'm going to cut you a deal. I'll cut  
  
your debt in half if you answer a few questions. Deal?" I nodded absently.  
  
"Deal. Anyhow, Saotome, I figure you're the person to ask on the  
  
whereabouts of other werewolves in Tokyo, so I'd like to know if you know  
  
the whereabouts of the wolf demon. Has it left the city? It hasn't been seen in  
  
Juuban the past few nights." She waited expectantly with pencil over paper.  
  
"As far as I know, Nabiki, he's still in town. I'd know if he left." Duh.  
  
See nodded and wrote that down. "All right then. What was Cologne all upset  
  
about this morning? Just for confirmation, Saotome."  
  
"Oh, she was worried about some demon stealing a tribal treasure or  
  
something." I said, as uninterestedly as I could. "You know how that goes."  
  
"We seem to be hip deep in demons lately." Nabiki grumbled as checked off  
  
something on her sheet.  
  
I put my hands behind my head. "Well, it ain't like it's as many as Juuban has  
  
on a weekly basis, ya gotta admit. And ya know Nerima is weirder than  
  
anywhere else. You'd think we'd have at least as many as Juuban."  
  
"You might have a point, Saotome." She then seemed to flash with anger for a  
  
second. "Hey Saotome?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Do you know who took these pictures of me?" she said, waving a handful of  
  
photographs under my nose. They showed a nude Nabiki rolling around in  
  
wolfsbane at midnight. I smiled internally. This ought to be fun - and increase  
  
my poser besides.  
  
"Come on, Nabiki, and you accuse me of being stupid. Who's the only person  
  
likely to know you got permission to enter the botanical gardens at night?  
  
Who's the only person around here who'd even care about the botanical  
  
gardens?"  
  
"Kodachi." Nabiki said, with more venom in her voice than I ever heard in  
  
anyone's ever before.. It took all my years of martial arts training not to hug  
  
myself in glee at THAT anger. Damn, I needed to get her pissed more often; it  
  
was even tastier than Akane's.  
  
"She usually gets Gos to do her camera work." Sending grief to one's students  
  
was a prime tenet of the Anything-Goes school. It's something Gos should  
  
have kept in mind.  
  
Heh heh.  
  
Nabiki, of course, merely smiled. Evil smile. A smile so evil Phibrizzo could  
  
only manage it if you fed him sourballs for an hour. Her eyebrow was  
  
twitching. "Saotome.. thank you for your input. I'll see that those two are  
  
properly thanked..."  
  
"Oh, don't mention anything about me telling you this, OK?"  
  
"It's completely fine, Saotome, I want all this payback to myself."  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
  
  
Another day, another threatening note from Ryouga. "I will have my revenge,  
  
Saotome. The usual place, three days from now." Ryouga had postmarked it in  
  
Sapporo, but it was obviously from Hong Kong, the maroon. I smiled.  
  
"Well, our resident berserker is back on the prowl. I wonder if he perfected his  
  
new Shishi Hokodan attack yet." He really should rename that move the  
  
mazoku munchie. It put all his considerable power in one convenient and easy  
  
to absorb package. Come to think of it, it's too bad there's no way of getting  
  
him here quickly. Maybe there's some kinda spell Phibrizzo knows that can  
  
draw him like a magnet or something, so I can have some eats whenever I want  
  
them. Delivered, even.  
  
Now that I think about it, I really should be going. I grab my pack and start  
  
stuffing the usual stuff into it, using what I've picked up of hidden weapons to  
  
hide some magic books and such in with the normal gear. Ryouga was giving  
  
me the perfect excuse to hang out in the Kataart Mountains for a few days on  
  
his little "training trip"  
  
"Yo! Oyaji! I'm going on a little training trip for my fight with Ryouga!" I  
  
hollered as I ran out the door. I quickly hung a left past the Yamani's house  
  
into an alley and opened the gateway Hellmaster had created for me. Faster  
  
than I could think about it I was in safe territory once again.  
  
The Kataart mountains are where Hellmaster has been spending most of his  
  
time lately. Surprisingly, though, when I visited his house, he wasn't there. My  
  
father was, however. "Pop?" I asked, as he was kind of out of it. In fact his  
  
arm had been torn away, revealing inky, swirling blackness. "Hey, what  
  
happened to you?"  
  
He smiled, which told me it couldn't be that bad. "Ah. Just the result of a little  
  
disagreement from Gaav."  
  
"Gaav?" I goggled. "I thought you were smarter than that, picking on someone  
  
so much more powerful than yourself. What were you thinking?" I exclaimed  
  
angrily.  
  
"You sound like Amelia." Pop said, sneering. I gave a hurt look.  
  
"Where's Phibrizzo?" I said, poking at the junk left behind in the old house.  
  
There wasn't much. Phibrizzo had spent centuries wandering the great desert  
  
before taking up residence in this tiny town in the Kataart range.  
  
"Sairaag. It seems he's finally shown his true colors. We were right. He's  
  
planning on getting Lina to cast a Giga Slave.. he's going to try to destroy the  
  
world." he grumbled. "Mother saw that coming years ago. I'd guess we have a  
  
week or two before Lina arrives to confront him. Is our safe house in your  
  
world still fine?"  
  
The safe house has always been an item of preoccupation with Granny and  
  
Pop. The whole reason she sent Xellos to my world in the first place was to  
  
have a hideyhole once she realized Hellmaster was going off the deep end.  
  
"Sure, it's still ready to go. I've been checking in on it in Juuban. There are  
  
some minor league do-gooders who might be a pest, but they aren't anything I  
  
couldn't handle, never mind you guys." That brought a smile to his face.  
  
"Hellmaster keyed that portal so only you can open it. Now, Zelas is strong  
  
enough to open one herself, but-"  
  
"Ahh, we can't let an old lady like her make such an effort. I'll bring you two  
  
over myself. Let Hellmaster do the work." I said, chuckling.  
  
"Old lady, am I?" Zelas's voice sounded out of the air, instantly ending my  
  
chuckles. She materialized, wine glass swishing in her hand, and not very  
  
happy looking.  
  
"Ah.. you se. well.. you are what, 5000?" I said, stammering, as Pop disguised  
  
a laugh by pretending to cough. Grandmother's frown just deepened. "Ah.."  
  
More frowning. Stupid mouth, think! A black mallet materialized and  
  
hammered me into the floor. "Uggh... 5000.. ite! going on 25.. yeah!" I  
  
croaked, the hammer dispelling at the end along with Zelas's frown.  
  
"Yes, I do hold my age well, don't I?" she said, laughing. Pop laughed too,  
  
politely. It wasn't that funny a joke. Mazoku don't age. That didn't stop  
  
Granny from obsessing over her looks, though. "So, Ranma, despite your utter  
  
lack of the manners befitting a demon lord, I will accept your offer to transport  
  
me to our safe house." She snapped her hands, healing me.  
  
"Whew!" I said, patting my now-healed body. "OK. I'll bring you guys over  
  
and then come back. I plan on doing a little martial arts training over here. So..  
  
hey, what should I look for if the world ends?" I asked. Maybe Lina would get  
  
there early, who knows.  
  
"The sky turning black, the sun turning red, that sort of thing." Zelas said  
  
dismissively. "Everything dying a horrible death. Yare, yare, yare." So that's  
  
where we get it from. "If you see that sort of thing happening, jump out.  
  
Hellmaster is strong enough that he'll be one of the last things around, so you  
  
should be fine. From all reports though, it'll be at least a week, so unless  
  
you're staying longer.." I shook my head. ".. you'll be fine then. In that case,  
  
let's get going! It's been a thousand years since I saw anyplace new." I nodded  
  
and opened up the gate.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **   
  
An hor later I was back in the mountains, practicing on a hillside. I really wish I  
  
could figure out that little spell Zelas had used to make cash. It would come in  
  
handy with Nabiki. Of course, if granny kept buying every bit of tobacco and  
  
alcohol in Tokyo like she was, the tax men were going to get suspicious. Of  
  
course, she'd just be recreating her private stocks from this world. " I wonder  
  
why she didn't just transfer over all her stuff from here?" I mused aloud, then  
  
realized that if she transferred all that junk and Hellmaster's plans went bust,  
  
she'd just make Pop and I bring it all back. "I can't believe she's just going to  
  
ditch her friends though. Dolphin is going to be pissed if Hellmaster dies and  
  
she finds out Granny rabbited." Though it wasn't too hard to see his  
  
grandmother's master plan. By having the excuse of Ranma so as to have  
  
Hellmaster open a gate, Zelas could set up a base in another world, and by  
  
ditching everyone else from this world...  
  
..we'd rule the Earth. No one would be able to match Zelas's power; heck,  
  
they wouldn't even be able to match Xellos. Even I, at this low level of power,  
  
was one of the most powerful single beings around. I wasn't the most  
  
powerful, but very few things were as strong as even a young mazoku, and I  
  
had been put in Nerima, possibly the richest, densest source of dark emotions  
  
possible, with all those crazed martial artists. And I had just drained Cologne's  
  
Demon's Blood Talismans. There would be no possible force to oppose us if  
  
we wanted to take over the world. Of course, Granny wouldn't bother taking  
  
over the world, that would just be a major headache, but there would be no  
  
question about who the real power was. There was something I could feel, as if  
  
in the back of my mind, that told me I was missing something. I reached back  
  
to scratch my head, only to catch hold of a hand. Oops. I turned around to  
  
see..  
  
"SHAMPOO!" I yelled, jumping in fright as the absolute last person I expected  
  
to see here was in front of me. Except there were two of them. They were  
  
giving me weird looks.  
  
"Like, are you a mazoku?" one Shampoo said.  
  
"Of course. He's like, floating in midair without magic." Oops.  
  
"Well, maybe he just has a really weird spell for levitating." the other Shampoo  
  
said, tilting her head.  
  
"Totally. Like, who calls a spell 'Shampoo'?" the second Shampoo retorted.   
  
"Well, it doesn't matter what you call it, does it?" I said. I stepped lightly back  
  
onto the ledge I had just jumped off of in surprise. I gave the Shampoos a  
  
look-over. Both seemed to be martial artists, though weapon users. Of course,  
  
they just ignored me and continued their argument.  
  
"I still think he's a mazoku." the second Shampoo insisted.  
  
"There's only one way to find out. We'll have to use the spell." the first  
  
Shampoo agreed. Then they started to fish around in their packs.  
  
"Uh, girls?" I said, wondering what the hell was going on. The two quickly ran  
  
behind a boulder and re-emerged wearing what looked like Happousai's  
  
interpretation of a fuku.  
  
"Right!" they chorused, and pulled out microphones. At which point I  
  
summoned two small spheres of dark energy and blasted them unconscious.  
  
"Sorry about that, but I had to nip that in the bud." I dragged their  
  
unconscious forms over to where I had left my pack and made camp, taking  
  
out the questionable cuisine Akane had made me and letting it heat near the  
  
fire. I'd wait for them to wake up and find out what the hell they wanted from  
  
me. The two woke up faster than I figured they would. "Ah, I see you've  
  
finally woken up."  
  
"So who are you?" Shampoo one.. I think.. said. "What are you?"  
  
I laughed. "Ah, you don't need to worry about me or nothing. I'm Ranma, a  
  
wandering martial artist." I gave an enigmatic grin and pretended to eat some  
  
food, again using the Gourmet de Fois Gras to fire it off the mountainside  
  
without them noticing. "You two wouldn't be hungry, would you? Help  
  
yourselves." Like martial artists on any world, the two were ravenously  
  
hungry, and ate Akane's teriyaki...  
  
..with entirely predictable results. "ARRGH! What is in this crap!" one  
  
Shampoo yelled, rolling around on the ground. Her twin crawled weakly to the  
  
cliff and threw up. Both turned gray, then a sort of sickly green, and crawled  
  
towards their packs and their water. "Water, water.." they mumbled, reaching  
  
for a canteen. I hid my smile behind my own canteen.   
  
It took a while, but the two finally recovered and turned to me. "Ugh.. *hack*  
  
*cough*... Anyhow, I'm Mimi and this is my sister Nene, and we're, like,  
  
famous martial artists and idol singers, and, like, how can you eat that stuff and  
  
not get sick?"  
  
"Yeah, totally." Nene chimed in.  
  
I made a big show of cocking my head and adopting a sensei-type voice. "Ah!  
  
You see, months ago, I learned a powerful technique that would allow me to  
  
finish entire plates of food, no matter how bad, with blinding speed. It is one of  
  
the most devastating techniques of the School of Martial Arts Dining-"  
  
"Martial Arts DINING?" they exclaimed in disbelief.  
  
"Yes. As I was saying, the school likened eating to combat, and designed this  
  
devastating technique to deal with even the most disgusting and horrible foods.  
  
If one can master it, they need never fear bad food again." I smiled. I had seen  
  
the look on these two's faces before, it was the look of a martial artist willing  
  
to go to any length to learn a technique. "It is called le Gourmet de Fois Gras."  
  
I then demonstrated by making the rest of my 'dinner' vanish, chucked into the  
  
lengthening shadows.  
  
"Wow! He can really eat that poison!" Nene said.  
  
"I told you he was a mazoku!" Mimi said. "Nothing human can eat that much  
  
of that and live."  
  
"Oh, but on the contrary - the Gourmet de Fois Gras can be learned by any  
  
martial artist who is skilled enough." I said, having moved in between them  
  
without them noticing.  
  
"AAAH!" they yelled, and promptly smashed me with their tin plates. "Sorry!"  
  
they said, apologizing. "As interesting as that technique sounds," Mimi  
  
continued, "I don't know if we have the time to learn it. We were going to  
  
head to Atlass City to perform in two weeks."  
  
"Oh, that'll be no problem." Yeah, the world will likely be destroyed before  
  
then. "I'll teach it to you if you two don't mind helping me with my own  
  
practice. I wouldn't mind some sparring partners." In the meantime, I could  
  
watch two people willingly subject themselves to Akane's cooking. I felt a  
  
smile coming on.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
It was two days later when Nene finally figured out the real Gourmet de Fois  
  
Gras. I had fed them nearly all of Akane's meals that had gone with me, and I  
  
was halfway amazed the two were still alive. I figured a steady diet of Akane's  
  
cooking could kill anything, and in fact Dr. Tofu used Akane's cookies to kill  
  
rats. Anyhow, Nene had begun to slip chunks of her food into Mimi's, and on  
  
this last plate she had unloaded a quarter into her sister's plate, half into the  
  
fire, and chucked the rest into the woods. I figured that was enough. I stood up  
  
to Nene and congratulated her.  
  
"Wonderful! You've mastered the Gourmet de Fois Gras!" I said, smiling  
  
broadly.  
  
"Huh?" they both said. Quite annoying, that.  
  
"Oh? You didn't realize? The secret of the Gourmet de Fois Gras is to secretly  
  
throw the food on your plate so quickly that the casual observer doesn't  
  
notice! It doesn't actually involve eating the food at all." I put my fist over my  
  
heart and lowered my eyes, appearing very solemn. "It is the greatest technique  
  
of Martial Arts Dining." The twins looked at each other, then slammed their  
  
plates on the ground.  
  
"You mean we really didn't have to eat all of that?" Mimi demanded.  
  
"No! Of course not." I said.  
  
"Then why didn't you TELL US?" Nene growled.  
  
I put my hand behind my head and laughed. "Um.. you never asked me!" I  
  
answered, still laughing. The two grabbed the logs we had been sitting on and  
  
started smashing me with them.  
  
"JERK!"  
  
"BASTARD!"  
  
"Hey.. OW! Stop that!"  
  
"TAKE THIS.. AND THIS.."  
  
"HOW COULD YOU.. you..you Inverse!"  
  
"Hey, that's was uncall-OW!"  
  
Eventually, the pummeling subsided and the two sisters walked off. I staggered  
  
to my feet and smiled. "That was fun." Maybe I'll open a dojo after becoming  
  
one of the High Lords of the Mazoku. I suppose I could never give up learning  
  
and teaching the martial arts. It was just too much to ask for... besides, if all  
  
the martial artists aspired to learn at my feet - and who wouldn't? - I'd have  
  
another base of power that the others didn't have. And I could have a lot of  
  
fun yanking my student's chains. "I suppose I understand Happousai now." I  
  
said, sighing as I studied the stars. An image popped into my head of  
  
Happousai diving into a pile of bras. "Scratch that." I added, sweating.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
Well.. all the stuff I said would happen in this update.. will happen next update.  
  
Since this chapter is getting long.. again.. I'm cutting it off. I'm not going to  
  
call the next part 2-C, because that way lies madness, so the next chapter is 3..  
  
damn.. I need to redo all the numbers in my notes.   
  
Thanks to all the people who have miscellaneous comments and suggestions.  
  
Your comments are all appreciated. More random comments, C&C, they're  
  
always welcome. How fast chapter three, or a teaser, comes out depends a lot  
  
on my classes. I figure I might be able to speed up, though, as the story seems  
  
to write itself sometimes. Not bad for the first fanfic, eh?  
  
Oh, and wild guesses are always welcome if you feel like predicting Ranma's  
  
actions. I always try to respond promptly - I'm on the computer most of the  
  
day, so I generally respond fast and often.  
  
  
  
it's on Nighthawk's page  
  
www.geocities.com/NighthawkTM/index.html  
  
and Crossover Corner  
  
www.geocities.com/animecrossovers 


	4. Ranmazoku Chapter 4

Ranmazoku Chapter 3 - Lions, Tigers, and Mazoku, Oh My!   
  
  
  
By PansutoTarou5925  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
FFNET Author's Note: Apologies for delays. I've been cleaning up little  
  
errors and such in these old chapters, mostly spelling stuff, so I can't just  
  
paste them wholesale from the originals. Plus, I'm spending my paltry spare  
  
time writing 'Fate'  
  
DISCLAIMER - I do not own the rights to Slayers nor do I own the rights  
  
to Ranma «. Long live the rightful owners of these two fine anime. This  
  
work is non-commercial and is done only in imitation of Rumiko Takahashi  
  
and Hajime Kanzaka. Imitation is the sincerest flattery, no? US rights  
  
owned by Viz and Software Sculptors. If I mention the Senshi, Sailor  
  
Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi(Sp, anyone?) and.. and.. I dunno who  
  
has the US rights, but it's there's not mine. (I'm drawing a blank)  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
Author's note - This story originated from an idea on Nighthawk's page  
  
and is some guy named NesTea's fault. If he's reading this, I'm curious to  
  
know what he thinks of all this. Questioning me would be like questioning  
  
Xellos if you ask when the next section comes out, because it's a secret.  
  
ALTAVERSE WARNING - This is an ALTAVERSE. Events, characters  
  
and the like may not resemble canon. People who are rabid canon-thumpers  
  
beware! (and eat a Dragon Slave while you're at it)  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
"So, Ryouga, you finally bothered to show up." I said, stretching. I had  
  
been coming to this vacant lot every day after school. "It only took you  
  
what, five days this time?" I drawled.  
  
"Shut up, Saotome. I wasn't just out taking a stroll through the park -"  
  
"-no, you also went through half of Asia_"  
  
"-shut up! I've been through hell to get to this fight!"  
  
I yawned ostentatiously. "You know, stupid, you could have just taken the  
  
train." Ryouga did a good impression of a fish at that point.  
  
"Well.. I. uh..." he babbled, trying to parry this one. "I couldn't find a train  
  
station, so there!"  
  
"Whatever. Let's get this fight started before the peanut gallery gets  
  
bored." I said, sticking a thumb at the crowd that surrounded us. As usual,  
  
the crowd was placing bets, mostly on Ryouga because of his 'new move'.  
  
Of course, Nabiki was going to clean up, as Ryouga's new move might as  
  
well be renamed the Mazoku Treat: a blast of pure depression. It was like a  
  
whiff of paradise. I would be very disappointed if Ryouga hadn't improved  
  
the move since the last time I met him. "So, have you perfected this move,  
  
or are you just going to introduce me to the same pitiful version you had  
  
last time?"  
  
Ryouga gave a gallows grin. "How depressing. But you've signed your  
  
own death warrant, Saotome." He cupped his hands at his waist and  
  
gathered his sickly green little aura, then thrust them forward. "SHISHI  
  
HOKODAN!" he yelled, focusing his depression into a ball of energy and  
  
pushing it away. I merely crossed my arms and grunted as it hit me,  
  
absorbing the energy. In reality, it didn't hurt at all, but I had to keep up  
  
appearances, after all. No human could take that blast and remain standing.  
  
"Is that all?" I taunted. "Come on, you loser, you can do better than that!"  
  
Ryouga's expression darkened, and he tried it again. "OK, P-chan, yeah,  
  
try it again." I said, gesturing for him to give me his best shot. This time, he  
  
was losing control of his depression as angry blue seeped into his aura. This  
  
would be funny. "C'mon, porky, I haven't got all day."  
  
That set him off. His aura switched to blue, and he fired another blast -  
  
"SHISHI HOKODAN!" - but he hadn't trained on how to use his anger to  
  
focus the blast. Instead, it just blew up in place and knocked him down.  
  
"That's truly pitiful, Ryouga. You've actually gotten worse." I laughed.  
  
"You beat yourself up now." There, he's back to depression. He really  
  
needs to learn how to just stay depressed.. I mean, I have Akane for anger.  
  
I need some variety.  
  
"Damn you!" he whispered, then cut loose with a much more powerful  
  
Shishi hokodan. This one I let throw me back as I blocked it; it was  
  
significantly more powerful than the original. It was time to start the fight  
  
for real.  
  
"Nice, P-chan, but no cigar." I rushed forward. His shishi hokodan steered  
  
right into me, but I just absorbed it and hammered him with a few hundred  
  
punches courtesy of the amaguriken. Ryouga, realizing that he couldn't use  
  
the shishi hokodan in close quarters, whipped his leg back and tried to blast  
  
me with a kick to the gut. I grabbed his leg and kicked him across the chin  
  
as I hopped it. The next punch he threw I took right in the chin and didn't  
  
move. "Hah!" Ryouga winced and shook his hand. "Just like a baby's!"  
  
That made Ryouga suddenly look at me. I could feel the eyes of several in  
  
the crowd on me, too.  
  
"You.. you did the Bakusai Tenketsu training!" he said accusingly. I  
  
laughed.  
  
"Come on. Even you would have felt that punch. No, I did something a lot  
  
harder." That was true: I had managed to get people to eat lots of Akane's  
  
cooking willingly. My endurance was merely my being a mazoku, but let  
  
everyone think something else.  
  
"Something.. harder..?" You could see the gears turning in Ryouga's head.  
  
I have no idea what he was thinking of - getting smashed by wrecking balls  
  
or run over by steamrollers, maybe - but he actually winced for a second.  
  
Then his expression grew harder. "So you might be tougher. I'll still kill  
  
you, Saotome!"  
  
"Promises, promises." I said, weaving around his punches and taking a few.  
  
The problem for Ryouga was that I was landing lots more than usual. And  
  
for that matter, I was attacking more viciously than ever before, hammering  
  
Ryouga with blows enhanced by monstrous strength. One of the best things  
  
about being a mazoku was that my body was just a puppet of black magic.  
  
As a result, what looked like light blows were actually hitting with the  
  
force of cannonballs. Still, Bakusai Tenketsu training made fighting Ryouga  
  
like trying to smash a mountain with your fists.  
  
Ryouga in fact let me punch him away on that last blow, to buy some  
  
room. I suppose the fight was getting to him, so.. "SHISHI HOKODAN!"  
  
This blast was even more powerful than the last, actually, "SHISHI  
  
HOKODAN! SHISHI HOKODAN! SHIShi hoko..." And with that, he  
  
collapsed, his chi completely run out. Probably the hardest thing in that  
  
fight was making sure I looked sufficiently bedraggled from those tasty  
  
blasts.  
  
"Feh. What a maroon." I said, as I walked away from the fight. Hopefully  
  
Ryouga would redouble his efforts. After all, he hadn't yet perfected the  
  
move.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
I was in the back yard pretending to have trouble figuring out how to do  
  
the shishi hokodan. In reality, my biggest problem would be faking the  
  
shishi hokodan. My innate black magic was fine, but no one would mistake  
  
it for the shishi hokodan. I experimentally fired a sphere of gold energy at  
  
the wall, burning a hole in it. Maybe I should just make up an attack of my  
  
own and use it.  
  
"Hey, Ranma." Nabiki said, running into the dojo. She noticed the hole in  
  
the wall. "Figured out the Shishi Hokodan yet?"   
  
"Well, I know it works off of depression. I'm just not depressed enough."   
  
"Anyhow, I've got these posters printed up. Ryouga's staying in town until  
  
the fight, in fact, he hasn't even left the lot yet, so we know he'll be there  
  
on time. I'm paying to have people bring him food and stuff until then." I  
  
nodded. "Anyhow, I'm going to be setting up some big signs advertising  
  
the fight and put up some stands. So try not to kill the spectators, alright?"  
  
"Yeah, sure. Whatever."  
  
"Heh. So you think you can beat his 'perfect' Shishi Hokodan?"   
  
"Of course. I never lose."  
  
"Overconfident, aren't we? Anyhow, how do you like this poster? Do you  
  
think it's flattering to you?" The poster in question had my girl side in a bra  
  
and had the caption "Legendary Crossdresser Ranma Saotome! Live at  
  
vacant lot, three blocks from Tendo Dojo" I snorted.  
  
"Put that up and die."  
  
Nabiki giggled and unrolled another poster. This one showed me  
  
apparently facing off against Ryouga, with a huge lion forming the  
  
background.  
  
"Not bad." I allowed. "How's your revenge against Kodachi coming?"  
  
Nabiki got a sour face. "Not well?"  
  
"No. Not at all. They have money to burn, so merely hitting them in the  
  
wallet doesn't hurt. Everyone already hates her, and she won't care if I  
  
stage something embarrassing involving her. She's a Kuno, trapped in their  
  
own little world." she finished.  
  
"So, what if you were to shatter that private little world?" I asked, smiling.  
  
"Like how?" she asked. "And why would you care?"  
  
I grimaced. "Look, this is Kodachi we're talking about. Anything you do to  
  
her is an improvement. I've got some Instant Nannichuan left over from  
  
that Dojo Destroyer mess a few months back. I'm sure you can find a way  
  
to get it placed in her bath. And a way to disable their hot water. Am I  
  
right?" Nabiki's eyes shone as she got a happy little smile, one I mirrored  
  
with my own sunny smile.  
  
"Of course! Where's that packet?" I held out my hand, which she  
  
inspected. "What?"  
  
"1000 yen." There are few things more incongruous than the Ice Queen of  
  
Furinkan growing a sweatdrop.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
My next stop was in Juuban, to see how Granny and Pop were doing in  
  
their new and hopefully temporary home. While I would normally worry  
  
about getting tailed by one of my seemingly dozens of fiancees, enemies,  
  
and assorted hangers on, it's not to hard to just hide for a second and just  
  
teleport or go astral.  
  
To be honest, I have no idea of what Grandmother Zelas is posing as, and I  
  
really don't care. All I know is she's pretending to be rich, the better to sit  
  
in the lap of luxury. Pop was pretending to be her chauffeur/butler/general  
  
errand boy, which actually wasn't too far off the truth, come to think of it.  
  
I filled them in on my activities over the past week, and then heard their  
  
story. "Ranma, darling," she said, a sure sign she's been drinking since  
  
dawn, "there's this FABULOUS Italian restaurant nearby. It has the most  
  
sumptuous delicacies.. and a nightclub next door with frequent fights." She  
  
laughed lightly in that sort of socialite way she has, not at all what you'd  
  
expect from a demon lord, and lit up a cigarette in her holder. "It is a most  
  
wonderful place to eat, a place made for the enjoyment of mazoku." She  
  
brushed her hair back over her shoulder. "If Hellmaster doesn't succeed in  
  
destroying our world, why, I don't wonder why we don't kidnap the staff  
  
and have them work for us!" Pop and I gave her a pained look.  
  
"Because they'd be terrified and try to escape, and not give you the refined  
  
dining experience you crave?" Pop answered, only half sarcastically. Zelas  
  
seemed to think that over for a second.  
  
"Oh. Nevermind, then." she waved her hands dismissively. "I could always  
  
just drop by when visiting Ranma, then. Your strength has shot up recently.  
  
Have you been draining those strange Daimon creatures? This most  
  
unusual redheaded woman summoned a few in the restaurant last night and  
  
was searching for 'pure heart crystals', I believe. Anyhow," she said,  
  
resting her head on her chin and watching her cigarette curl smoke to the  
  
ceiling, "it was so very boring until she decided to try for our crystals.  
  
Well, I put an end to that fast!" she giggled.  
  
"Yes, a Zelas Brid does wonders in blasting apart such weak little  
  
creatures. They make Brass Demons look strong." Pop said, grinning. We  
  
all laughed at that. That was like using a Dragon Slave on a few measly  
  
bandits.  
  
"You should have seen the look on her face." Granny added. "But that  
  
wasn't the best part. We phased out to the astral plane because we didn't  
  
want to have to explain why we weren't affected when the authorities  
  
came. After all, everyone had either fled or been victimized. These girls  
  
come in... dressed in the most ridiculous costumes..."  
  
"Like the ones Lina and Amelia wore that I told you about. Nene and  
  
Mimi, the two girls you ran across, had them too - that costume." Pop  
  
clarified. I laughed.  
  
Zelas giggled again, which is just disturbing. "Quite. They run into the  
  
restaurant with these ridiculous costumes and just stop and gawk.  
  
Everything was torn up by my attacks. So they just stood around and  
  
stared for a while. Oh, it was obvious they could somehow pick us up, or  
  
something, that girl in the blue skirt said she was picking up all kinds of  
  
residual energies. But they just milled around like little lost sheep until  
  
these two older girls came and hustled them out." We all had another  
  
round of laughter at that. "I suppose that Eudial person will consider  
  
herself lucky to run into those underdressed sorceresses next time." she  
  
said. "Fortunately the restaurant has already been repaired. It seems the  
  
repair companies in Nerima are quite familiar with repairing battle  
  
damage." She smirked at me. "Would you care to join us for dinner,  
  
grandson?"  
  
"Heh. I'd love to. But, y'know, I can't be seen in public with you guys, or  
  
too many questions will be asked. Tell you what though. you know the guy  
  
I've been talking about, that tries to use depression as an attack?" Nods all  
  
around. "He and I are having a fight in a few days. If you can delay going  
  
back home, if it still exists, you'll probably see the most intense focus of  
  
despair you've ever seen in a single human."  
  
"Really." Zelas remarked drily. I gulped. I forgot she ha thousands of years  
  
of experience at watching human suffering.  
  
"Well, I think so, anyhow. I'll be very disappointed if he doesn't perfect his  
  
move. In that case, he'd have nothing but despair left."  
  
"Really." this time, both Zelas and Pop's eyes shone hungrily. Grandmother  
  
even licked her lips. "That's a treat not to be missed, then. I'll make the  
  
time." I handed her a poster.  
  
"Just so you're there."  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
I had a brief trip to China to pick up an item of some interest. I had  
  
continued my fishing in the old ghoul's mind to see if anything else could  
  
be of use to me. She was much more watchful now, but as long as I merely  
  
watched she could detect nothing. She had had nightmares enough of the  
  
one who had possessed this.. object.  
  
I looked at it in revulsion myself. I have no idea why, but the very feel of it  
  
makes my skin crawl. Even though its magic is ineffective against me, still  
  
it horrifies me. Anyhow, I suppose the owner will come looking for it, but  
  
it will probably be too late when he gets here. I'll already have everything I  
  
need to put my plan into motion. Of course, that meant I had to take care  
  
of some other stuff, first. One of which was to eliminate the danger in my  
  
own backyard. I waited silently in the shadows, watching for my  
  
apprentice.  
  
"You were not followed?" I asked, seeing Gos come into the moonlight.  
  
"No."  
  
"Good." I paused for a moment. Over the past week, Gosunkugi had made  
  
considerable progress in the dark arts. "Having to use your skills often  
  
against Nabiki and her cronies, aren't you?" I teased.  
  
"How would you know about that?" he asked, annoyed. "She's been after  
  
me for days. Somehow she found out I was the source of those photos."  
  
The best lie is closest to the truth. I know that from long experience. What  
  
better way to prove to Nabiki that Kodachi is behind all of her recent  
  
problems than by making the other part of the lie the unblemished truth? I  
  
smirked at Gos's problems. He should know that a central teaching method  
  
of Anything Goes, whether martial or magical arts, is to cause problems for  
  
the student and let them learn to deal with it.  
  
"That's something you're just going to have to deal with." I said, voicing  
  
those thoughts. Then I heard a slight noise around the corner. "I thought  
  
you said you weren't followed." I asked coolly.   
  
Gos started to fidget nervously and wring his hands. "Well.. I.. ah.. I didn't  
  
think.." Whoever was eavesdropping began to move away as Gos  
  
unraveled. I quickly teleported in behind them as they backed away. I gave  
  
the crouching figure a tap on the shoulder.  
  
"Well, well, well. Looky here. Hello, Nabiki." I smirked.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
"Now, now, Nabiki, Gosunkugi, what will I do with you two?" I said,  
  
slowly circling the two. They were scared, fear rising off them in waves.  
  
Gos more frightened than Nabiki by far. He always had less guts than the  
  
middle Tendo. He also knew what he was getting into here. "Now, Gos, I  
  
know you were lying when you said you knew no one was following you."  
  
Gos was sweating bullets. "Ranma-" Glare. "MASTER Ranma, I didn't  
  
want to! But she was blackmailing me! She asked me to tell her who took  
  
those photos! I wouldn't tell her, so she threatened to tell the school my  
  
secret.. so.. so.. I told her I would be meeting with the person who asked  
  
me to do it, and she could follow me, so.. so.." I silenced his babbling with  
  
a gesture. I had no idea what Gosunkugi's big secret was, nor did I care.  
  
All that mattered was that Nabiki knew something I didn't want her to  
  
know.  
  
"You've got real balls, Saotome." she said, half angry, half impressed. "To  
  
order those photos taken and then finger someone else for it?" I ignored  
  
her. What should I do? Dead men tell no tales, but disintegrating Nabiki  
  
was too distasteful to me. She was so pleasantly evil. How could I harm a  
  
lying little serpent like her? ".. I have no idea why you're ignoring me,  
  
Saotome, but you're just digging yourself in deeper." I silenced her for a  
  
second with a bolt of energy thrown at her feet, digging a nice hole in the  
  
alley. It only brought me a moment's respite from her prattling. "Give me a  
  
break, Saotome. You'll never really hit a girl."   
  
It seems I would have to take stronger measures to get through to her. "I  
  
slapped her across the face. Hard. "Really?" She just gaped at me in shock.  
  
"Look here, Nabiki. You might think you're queen of the hill here, that  
  
nothing passes out of your notice. But I've been fooling you for months.  
  
Months. Did you know that? Don't pretend you knew. You didn't know  
  
me. You think you know me? You don't know anything about me." I  
  
ended pointing a finger right in her face. "I'll make this very clear. If you  
  
don't cooperate... I'll make you disappear." Her eyes, which had been  
  
widening in fear, shrank back. The normal, everyday iron face of Nabiki  
  
slipped back.  
  
"Unusual. I knew you were hiding something. I didn't suspect this." she  
  
said, cooly. Gosunkugi scurried off, apparently convinced I had forgotten  
  
about him. I'll deal with him later. This security breach had to be  
  
contained, first. If you let Nabiki get her claws in you, she could be an  
  
amazing hassle. "I had no idea you were such a plotter. So, Saotome, what  
  
are you, ninja?" she asked.  
  
"Of course not. But there is a little matter of an arrangement. You see,  
  
you're either going to work with me, or against me. And if you're working  
  
against me..." I paused. "I'll make sure you're out of the picture." Let her  
  
think what she may about that. I figured stranding her on Wolf Pack Island  
  
until I was ready to roll would do. Assuming it still existed. If it didn't,  
  
Antarctica would do wonders to cool off her temper.  
  
"And how would you explain my absence to the family?" she retorted  
  
coolly.  
  
"I wouldn't have to."  
  
"And why is that?" she said, actually curious.  
  
"Ahh.. now that is a secret." I said, waggling my finger. "Trust me, though,  
  
I can do it." At least, I can create a pretty convincing illusion of her. It's  
  
pretty easy: just make it as greedy and conniving as possible and no one  
  
will ever know the difference. At least not for a while. OK, a little while.  
  
Maybe a day. But I could still do it. Sorta. "Besides, even if I couldn't, you  
  
know who your father would make search for you. I would be creatively  
  
incompetent."  
  
Nabiki actually laughed at that. "Funny. I like this side of you. Doesn't  
  
mean I'm going to forgive you." She gave me a hard look. " I will work  
  
with you, however. First, I'd like the money you got from those  
  
photographs of me."  
  
"I'd like the money you get from my photographs." I shot back.  
  
"Touche."  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
The next day I saw Ryouga practicing in the vacant lot near the dojo. He  
  
was letting off almost pure depression, and Akane was talking to him. She  
  
said something to him and left, and shortly thereafter he threw up a huge  
  
ball of energy, which promptly dropped down and smashed into the  
  
ground. "Man, what a lame technique." I said to myself, noting the  
  
spiraling currents of depression in the ball. "How does he expect to hurt  
  
anyone with that?" I pulled my recent prize out of stuffspace and smiled.  
  
"Sure will come in handy for me, though." I just hoped I'd be able to  
  
harness the power of that depression at the right time. I would need it.  
  
Hellmaster Phibrizzo was dead. Maryuoh Gaav was dead. If I wanted one  
  
of their positions, I needed to act fast.  
  
I spent the next hour or so thinking of the most humiliating way possible to  
  
demonstrate the folly of the Perfect Shishi Hokodan. I needed Ryouga to  
  
go even further down that road of depression. If I pushed him just a little  
  
harder, he'd be the perfect psyche for my needs. A person completely  
  
devoid of anything but depression. What to do.. what to do.. ah! I'd need  
  
to prepare this quickly.  
  
I teleported beneath the area we would be fighting in and fired a burst of  
  
energy, hollowing out the rock. I eyeballed the crater left by the Shishi  
  
Hokodan and made the top of my chamber reach just above that level. I  
  
then summoned a powerful magical flame and melted the dirt into a thin  
  
layer of glass. My next step was to teleport to China and go to a very  
  
special spring. If I did this right, it would be perfect. I used a simple gate  
  
and flooded the chamber. With the chamber filled, I simply struck the glass  
  
sides hard from the Astral Plane, shattering them.  
  
If I could maneuver Ryouga into firing his Shishi Hokodan right over this  
  
spot - and that would be child's play - he'd geyser up a fountain of water  
  
and turn into liddle widdle P-chan right in front of Akane. He'd be at the  
  
deepest pit of despair. He'd let off another Shishi Hokodan and fall into the  
  
water, which I had been careful to never fully immerse myself in, to keep  
  
its very special properties. If that ultimate Shishi Hokodan didn't do the  
  
trick, having him fall into the Jusendo water would give me the ability to  
  
get as much power as I needed. I laughed villainously.  
  
"OHH HO H-erk!" Dammit. I hate laughing evilly as a girl.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
It was the day of the fight, and I was giddy with anticipation. There was  
  
Ryouga, looking like death warmed over, there were the crowds of  
  
vicarious thrillseekers, taking their seats in the stands, there was Nabiki,  
  
taking bets, and there were Zelas and Pop, in the stands. I sweatdropped  
  
and put my face in my hands. Zelas was drinking wine.. from a goblet.. in  
  
the stands. Well, this was Nerima, no one will notice. Probably.   
  
I also saw Kuno sitting serenely, waiting no doubt for the defeat of the  
  
'Sorcerer Saotome'. Akane was sitting on the sidelines, right next to  
  
Ukyou.  
  
I estimated the crowd at about 250. Excellent.  
  
Ryouga slowly started forward. His eyes were almost completely devoid of  
  
life. His steps, usually so full of life and anger, were leaden, dead.  
  
"Saotome..." he growled. "Today I send you to hell!" With that he fired a  
  
normal Shishi Hokodan, which I parried with a golden ball of energy.  
  
"Send me to hell?" I said, deciding to annoy him. "By the look in your  
  
eyes, we're already there." That got a slight rise out of him. I resolved not  
  
to say anything more during the fight. I wanted him to be the pinnacle of  
  
depression, not diluted with anger. He fired another Shishi Hokodan, which  
  
I again batted away. This time, I fired another blast right afterwards, giving  
  
it the name I had decided on for my ki/magic blast. "MOKUO  
  
TAKABISHA!" Ryouga quickly countered it. I was getting impatient.  
  
When was he going to unleash his big gun? Usually he's in such a damn  
  
hurry to use his new moves. He already knows this other crap can't hurt  
  
me.  
  
Ryouga growled and fell back. Seeing that he was about to unleash his  
  
move, I pushed him back so he was directly over the chamber I had  
  
constructed yesterday. "PERFECT SHISHI HODOKAN!" he screamed,  
  
and let loose with a tremendous blast of energy that ascended into the air. I  
  
moved back and threw my arms up.  
  
"YEAH! Give me your best!" With this I would gain the power to be one  
  
of the Mazoku Lords! The complete and utter power of someone at the  
  
very nadir of despair! And if it was not enough, the little spring constructed  
  
underneath would let me expand that power base as much as I needed. It  
  
would be a spring of depression, a horrible river Styx that took away the  
  
joy of life and left only emptiness and despair. It.. wait, weren't those  
  
Perfect Shishi Hokodans only supposed to go up and down?  
  
Damn! Ryouga somehow angled it into me! I took the hit without much of  
  
a problem, but then a geyser of pressurized water blasted out and flung me  
  
back."Pigtailed Girl!" I heard.  
  
What followed was the greatest confirmation of Murphy's Law ever  
  
witnessed.  
  
Kuno had seen me get smashed back by the water and was instantly on his  
  
feet and leaping toward me to check his precious 'Pigtailed Girl'. The  
  
ground under him collapsed as he landed, sending him right into the spring.  
  
And, sickeningly, as if in slow motion, the ground continued to collapse,  
  
and the stands toppled... right.. into.. the new spring. I began to inch back.  
  
Ryouga had fled at the first sign of geysers. This could be bad. This could  
  
be very, very bad.  
  
I knew I was in trouble when Akane and Ukyou came out, followed by  
  
dozens of others. "PIGTAILED GIRL!" they all yelled. I screamed and  
  
ran.  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
"I don't understand it." I said, resting in Wolf Pack Island. Grandmother  
  
had left for her old place as soon as it was confirmed Hellmaster was dead.  
  
"What went wrong?" I asked, then took another gulp of sake. Sometimes it  
  
was nice to have a grandmother with every kind of alcohol in the world.  
  
Even if I couldn't get drunk.  
  
Of course, I wasn't getting an answer from my relatives. Every time I  
  
brought up the subject, they would just collapse in laughter. Finally, Pop  
  
managed to control himself enough to answer. "Heh heh! Well as I (excuse  
  
me! haha!) always say.. Simple is better!" with that he exploded into  
  
laughter again, then suddenly jumped up and glomped me. "PIGTAILED  
  
BOY!" he yelled, causing me to jump.  
  
"Don't DO that!" I yelled, teleporting across the room as he collapsed in  
  
laughter. Unfortunately, the victims of Kunoization weren't idiots, but they  
  
were in love with me anyway. I had found that out the hard way. All the  
  
guys attacked me in either body, and all the girls chased me in either, at  
  
least until they were hit with hot water. Kuno had died when the stands fell  
  
on him, but now when I went to school I'd probably have a horde of  
  
bokken waving idiots and lovestruck girls out there, all reciting bad poetry  
  
and throwing roses around. "It's just a dream.. a really bad dream.. L-sama  
  
save me." I groaned.  
  
The only good thing to come out of this fiasco was that Akane was at a  
  
new level of piss-off (that is, when she wasn't trying to glomp me or  
  
attacking the other fiancees to get them to release their spell on the 'Manly  
  
Ranma'. Ugh.) after dealing with all the people who were after her. All the  
  
Kuno-cursed girls accused her of casting a spell on me.  
  
"I suppose I'm going to have to find another way." I groused. "But mark  
  
my words! I will become a Mazoku Lord!"  
  
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **  
  
Wow, am I on a roll or what?  
  
I had a big burst of inspiration and I've been going strong ever since. This  
  
is about half of chapter 3 or so, probably a little less. My fight scene is a  
  
little weak, I think, but I don't usually write fight scenes; I have a real  
  
problem writing them to keep the action moving, I think.   
  
I have to thank everyone for all the mail. Keep on firing your questions at  
  
me, the C&C, even flames, random comments, whatever. It's all fun.  
  
Oh, and wild guesses are always welcome if you feel like predicting  
  
Ranma's actions. I always try to respond promptly - I'm on the computer  
  
most of the day, so I generally respond fast and often.  
  
  
  
it's on Nighthawk's page  
  
www.geocities.com/NighthawkTM/index.html  
  
and Crossover Corner  
  
www.geocities.com/animecrossovers 


	5. Ranmazoku to End of 1st Arc

﻿Ranmazoku Chapter 4 - Soldiers of Darkness  
By PansutoTarou5925  
  
DISCLAIMER - I do not own the rights to Slayers nor do I own the rights  
to Ranma ½. Long live the rightful owners of these two fine anime. This  
work is non-commercial and is done only in imitation of Rumiko Takahashi  
and Hajime Kanzaka. Imitation is the sincerest flattery, no? US rights  
owned by Viz and Software Sculptors. If I mention the Senshi, Sailor  
Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi(Sp, anyone?) and.. and.. I dunno who  
has the US rights, but it's there's not mine. (I'm drawing a blank)  
  
  
  
Author's note - This story originated from an idea on Nighthawk's page  
and is some guy named NesTea's fault. If he's reading this, I'm curious to  
know what he thinks of all this. Questioning me would be like questioning  
Xellos if you ask when the next section comes out, because it's a secret.  
  
ALTAVERSE WARNING - This is an ALTAVERSE. Events, characters  
and the like may not resemble canon. People who are rabid canon-thumpers  
beware! (and eat a Dragon Slave while you're at it)  
  
PREVIOUSLY - Ranma discovers he's not Genma's son, that Xellos is his  
father, that he's not even human, studies black magic under Phibrizzo,  
yadda yadda yadda, gets in a fight with Ryouga and curses a decent sized  
crowd to act like Kuno. Read the previous chapters, really, I'm not good at  
rehashing stuff.  
  
  
  
I had remained in Wolf Pack Island overnight. Let them think I ran away.  
OK, so I did run away.. big deal. I needed the time to sift through  
Phibrizzo's leftover junk anyhow.  
  
I had been sorting the enormous pile of stuff into three smaller piles. One  
was composed entirely of utterly useless crap, like a necklace made entirely  
out of the teeth of some sort of predator, or a battered spear. Presumably  
they were relics from when Phibrizzo wandered the Desert of Destruction  
alone, mementos of his centuries of solitude. The second pile was of  
magical stuff that couls drained for the betterment of my power.  
  
The third was the largest. With no one to talk to, Phibrizzo had written. A  
lot. Volumes covered the history of the world, the major philosophies of all  
of the races of the world, the creation of golems, curses. Curses. I put that  
one aside, searching for more books that could be of immediate interest. A  
scroll depicting the hierarchies of the four staffs upon the sea of chaos  
caught my eye. Then I found a text on the history of the staff of Dorphied.  
Jackpot. This was exactly the sort of thing I needed.  
  
The first part of the book described how Hellmaster knew of my world and  
how to collect information across the dimensional barrier. Boring. though  
maybe I could make some use of it later. What I wanted was to learn about  
potential enemies and sources of power in my world. I sat down, flipping  
ahead until I saw the first mentions of the battles between Dorphied and  
Death Fog Photobranigdo. Interesting stuff, that. I was lost in the book for  
quite a while - longer than Hinako-sensei would ever have believed, for  
sure. The interplay between the different dark lords and their lieutenants  
reinforced a feeling I had gotten earlier, that if I was to succeed in my bid  
to take over Maryuoh's or Hellmaster's positions, I needed underlings. I  
already had a possible canidate in mind for my priest for a while. She had  
all the necessary requirements, I felt, to be a devastating mazoku. And  
she'd be easy enough to dupe into agreeing.  
  
The parallels between this world and the one of my birth - creation,  
whatever - were striking. There was even one who combined both aspects  
of the shinzoku of that world and its mazoku like Gaav, although this one  
was merely a lieutenant and not one of the major players like this Saffron  
guy or Metallia.  
  
A few chapters later, I came upon an interesting little tidbit. The Giga  
Slave was actually known on my world. It had a different name, of course,  
as it had been independently developed in that world. Not too suprising  
when you thought about it. L-sama's power could be reached from any of  
the four worlds. I really preferred the sound of this one, though, it was so -  
  
Hmm...  
  
I read the entry again, then flipped back a few chapters. This was  
interesting. Hmm.  
  
"I think I've found my general." I said in a hushed whisper, and gave a little  
grin. Now I only had to figure out how to make the pitch.  
  
  
  
I was back in the Tendo house the next morning and needless to say..  
breakfast was interesting.  
  
Actually, it was very normal at first. I pounded Genma, he pounded me  
back, we both threw each other in the pond, and we went to eat. It was  
during the meal that things got interesting.  
  
First, Kasumi, demonstrating conclusively the way water is attracted to  
cursed individuals, managed to knock a glass of water into Nabiki's lap,  
causing her to immediately jump up and over the table. "Ranma.. make me  
yours!" she purred.  
  
"Ack!" Love! Kindness! Bad! Very bad! I tried to grab a cup of tea to toss  
on Nabiki, but instead I only ended up knocking a cup of water onto  
Akane's lap. "Crap."  
  
Akane immediately pulled a bokken from stuffspace and immediately went  
on the offensive. "Unhand the pigtailed boy!" she commanded, leveling her  
bokken at Nabiki.  
  
"Dammit! USE MY NAME!" I yelled. "The others do!" Nabiki jumped up  
and pulled her own bokken out.  
  
"Have no fear, Ranma, for I , the Ice Queen of Furinkan High, shall smite  
this scoundrel!" she said. Soun and Genma just sat there, confused, as the  
two sisters immediately started a duel at the table.  
  
"Oh my! Nabiki, that's your sister! Akane! Please!" Kasumi covered her  
mouth in shock and hid in the kitchen.  
  
"Have at thee! Ra-tat-tat-tat-tat.." Nabiki yelled, attempting Kuno's multi-  
strike technique and tearing up the room. Akane countered with a vicious  
slash to the stomach that Nabiki deflected into Genma's head. The flat  
thunk of a panda's head being impacted by a bokken sounded, and then he  
fell face first in his miso. The soup was warm enough to change him.  
Sighing, I picked up Nabiki's and Akane's soups and threw them. The  
added anger was all fine and good, but dealing with hordes of the insane  
was not.  
  
At least I would be able to finish my breakfast in peace. School wouldn't  
be as restful.  
  
  
  
The route to school we took avoided the ladle lady's house entirely. None  
of us wanted to take the chance of dealing with a Kunoized Nabiki or  
Akane again. Fortunately, the sheer level of chaos caused by the mess had  
prevented anyone - meaning Cologne or Nabiki - from asking the serious  
question of just how Jusendo water happened to get under that battlefield.  
But it would be asked. I needed to hurry up if I wanted to be anything  
other than a bottom rung mazoku. I sighed. There was a wonderful  
sensation as I entered the Furinkan yard: never had I felt such hatred.  
Problem: Most of it was directed at me. A veritable wall of bokken waving  
boys stood in the front yard.  
  
Solution: One big Mokou Takabisha fake ki blast. The result - only a few  
stragglers left standing to clean up. Just as I was finishing the last few who  
were lucky enough to be standing, I turned to go in and was greeted by the  
sight of fifty-odd guys getting up. "I FIGHT ON!" they chorused. Yup.  
This sucked. I can't even let loose and just sadistically rip into them, that  
would tip off Akane.  
  
Later... too late, really, I finished off the door crowd and walked in. Now I  
had girls draped all over me and Akane getting madder. Well, let her. I  
need something to give me a recharge at this point. I waved Akane through  
the door of the classroom, then walked through, scraping most of the  
glomping girls off. The few who mangaged to retain a hold on me I  
removed. I also noticed Hiroshi and Daisuke giving me the evil eye, and  
Yuka and Sayuri giving me longingful looks alternating with ambivalent  
ones toward Akane. At least Hinako is late.. Hinako late? Please, dear L-  
sama, let her be sick...  
  
"Saotome, you cad!" Hiroshi whispered in my ear.  
  
"Evil sorceror! How could you! You were our friend! Release the beautiful  
rose Sayuri and the fierce tigress Akane from your evil spell!" Daisuke  
whispered in my other ear.  
  
"Douse them with hot water." It was true. Heck, I really had put them all  
under an evil spell too, sort of.  
  
Daisuke got up, apparently deciding he had time before Miss Hinako got  
there to get hot water. "Though I mistrust you, I, Daisuke, the True  
Sidekick of Furinkan High -"  
  
"Hey! I'm the True Sidekick of Furinkan High!" Hiroshi interrupted.  
  
Daisuke seemed to have steam coming from his ears. "How dare you  
accuse me of stealing my name!" The two picked up the bokkens they had  
brought to school and were about to probably start a major riot, as the  
other affected students all reached for their bokkens, except that Miss  
Hinako came in the classroom at that moment. She held up her coin,  
causing everyone to immediately calm down.  
  
"Everyone return to their seats!" Hinako-sensei yelled in that annoying  
childlike voice. The students sat down and sat very still. No one wanted to  
set off the child teacher of Furinkan. Good thing the Kuno curse didn't  
make them stupid. Then Hinako stood up on the chair and tilted her head  
dramatically. "Only I, Hinako Ninomiya, the Little Princess of Furinkan  
High, may date Ranma..." I groaned and put my head in my hands.  
  
  
  
At lunch, I decided that it would be best if I fled the place. Some idiot had  
turned the sprinklers on outside, and Furinkan descended into a pit of  
chaos and violence the likes of which it hadn't seen since last Tuesday.  
Regardless of the level of insanity and how tasty it was, I was getting tired  
of the endless stream of attackers and female admiriers who were all  
impossible to shake. So I jumped up on a roof and got as far away from the  
school as possible.  
  
I was female, but there was nothing I could do about it at the moment. If  
the sprinklers hadn't gone off I would have talked to Nabiki and tried to  
bring her within my orbit, but since she wouldn't, I'd just search for my  
other canidate. Probably better I was female for this part, actually. I quickly  
transported to the Astral plane and began searching for the unusual magical  
signal of my chosen general. There would only be one person with the  
peculiar admixture of black and white magic I was searching for. They, like  
Gaav, were L-sama's exceptions that proved the rule about mixing magic.  
  
It wasn't too hard to find her. Spying on her, it was easy to see that I had a  
good chance of winning her to my side. Just because I was mazoku didn't  
mean I was devoid of sympathy. My own abilities had contributed to a  
lonely childhood as well. I looked with sympathy on her as she was bullied  
by the weak who surrounded her. Such as her should never have to answer  
to the likes of them. If I won her to my side, I would cripple my enemies  
and strengthen my hand considerably. Now, how best to make my offer...  
  
I was walking back to Nerima, having gotten a cup of hot coffee from a  
vending machine on the way back to restore me to my normal form.  
Hopefully, the earlier Kuno madness had subsided, or better yet the battles  
spread out, so I could taste the anger but not get involved in the actual  
battles with the obsessed victims. The sight of the three guys standing in  
the middle of the road around a compass stopped me, though.  
  
"Which way is it pointing? It's been going nuts for the past hour or two."  
said a mysterious figure in a scaled robe. His compatriots, a tall hulking  
guy and a small guy with a wolf-skin hat (poor wolf), turned to him.  
  
"It's pointing right down this street now, sir, and it's stopped jumping." the  
wolf-hat guy answered.  
  
"Ah" scaly robe answered. He then turned around and did a double take.  
"YOU!" I took a quick look at his magic signature.. this ought to be  
interesting.  
  
"Hello there, stranger. Or perhaps I should call you.." I taunted, then  
teleported behind him and yanked off the robe... "Princess Herb!" I  
laughed.  
  
"Grr!" The Dragon Prince ofthe Musk was livid. "How dare you call me  
that!" A thought seemed to occur to him. "Wait, how do you know I was  
cursed? You broke into my citadel before that damnable monkey pushed  
me in."  
  
"Your magic signature is similar to Jusenkyo victims I've seen before." I  
said, smirking. "So, why are you here? Are you looking for.. this?" I said,  
pulling the Chiusuuton I had stolen earlier out. I had been planning to lock  
people who fell into the Ryouga pool with it, but we all know how THAT  
turned out...  
  
"You'll give that to us!" Herb commanded. "Or I will personally punish  
you for your crimes against the Musk." I casually leaned against a water  
fountain and inspected my fingernails. His lackeys circled around to flank  
me.  
  
I smirked. "What are you going to do? This?" Faster than the human - or  
even part dragon - eye can see, I flipped some water from the fountain on  
him with the Chiusuuton ladle. Herb screamed in rage. I just laughed and  
held up the Chiusuuton. "Watcha gonna do, Princess?"  
  
Herb smiled back. She then blasted be with a convenient hose, catching the  
Chiusuuton with the spray. "Oh, just - what the?"  
  
SHIT! That HURT! "AAAAAAAaargh! Ite ite ite iteiteiteiteite!" I yelled,  
jumping up and down and in circles while screaming my head off. I knew I  
had nothing to fear from the ladle because it was pretty weak ryuuzoku  
magic and my mazoku powers would resist it (unlike Jusenkyo, which was  
Death Fog's power), but I had no idea how much the process would hurt.  
Still smoking where the enchanted water hit me and feeling absolutely  
shitty, I summoned all of my power. I threw a fireball into the water  
fountain, spraying me with hot water, and I stepped out male. "OK, you  
little ryuuzoku bitch. You've had your fun. Now, I'm going to kill you."  
  
  
  
You could see the gears turning on Herb's face. "You! You're a mazoku!"  
she said accusingly.  
  
"Right in one, sister. What clued you off? The teleporting, or the fact that  
I'm smouldering like a pile of burnt tires right now?" I said. Truth to be  
told, I might be in for a real fight. That damn water took a lot out of me.  
Herb seemed to realize that, too, because her next command..  
  
"Lime! Mint! Get the Chiusuuton!" she screamed. I immediately ducked  
the punch from the slow guy, Lime, and dodged, or rather tried to dodge,  
Mint's knife thrust. The blade merely glanced off, though. It wasn't  
enchanted. I kicked Lime away and teleported to the other side of Herb.  
  
"Feh." Herb said. She fired a blast of magic.  
  
"So, you can throw magic around too." I smiled. "Looks like I'll get a  
workout." I snarled, then threw a blast back one handed and teleported to  
behind Herb's position. She had anticipated and flown in a loop.  
  
"Ryuu Sei Hisho!" she cried out, and for the first time since I had unlocked  
my true powers, I knew pain from an enemy's attack. I gritted my teeth -  
had such a short absence from pain really made my tolerance so less. Or, I  
suddenly realized with a start, was this the first time I had ever felt true  
pain? "Hito Ryu Zan Ha!" Herb yelled, this time firing dozens of little  
crescent shaped blasts. I teleported agin, this time to right in front of where  
she was facing, correctly guessing Herb would try to catch me behind her  
again.  
  
"I've got you now, you little dragon bastard!" I roared, and caught her in a  
bearhug. I tightened my grip with all my inhuman strength: even a  
ryuuzoku would succumb to that. Except that Lime smashed a boulder  
over my head.  
  
While boulders smashing on my head couldn't shake my concentration -  
and just where the hell is he getting those - it did distract me from Mint,  
who sprayed me with the hose again. "AAAIIIIIeee!" I screamed, dumping  
Herb as another set of burning splotches popped up across my arms.  
"Dammit! You're going to pay for that!" I teleported in front of the guy.  
"So you think you know wolves?" I said, grinning ferally. I transformed to  
my monstrous body with the wolf's head. It was small and female, but I  
still had the satisfaction of seeing the two goons piss their pants.  
  
"MINT!" Herb screamed as I smashed Mint through the front of a store.  
She immediately started blasting me with energy blasts again. I ignored the  
pain and pounced on her, grabbing her and Lime each with one giant claw.  
The little ryuuzoku bitch kept blasting me with those damn energy blasts,  
and the other one was nearly breaking my claws off trying to escape. I  
crushed both into the ground with my weight.  
  
"JUST DIE, DAMMIT!" I roared, a truly deafening noise. Picking the two  
up, I drove them into the ground with superhuman force. And again. And  
Again. Until all I had was two battered unconscious forms. I just dropped  
them and transformed back. There was probably a more elegant way to win  
that fight, but I didn't know how. I picked up the Chiusuuton. "What the  
hell am I going to do with this now?" I said aloud. Then I figured it would  
be a good idea to flee. Come to think of it, people probably saw me  
transform into the wolf. This was not good. Damn halfbreed ryuuzoku,  
making me lose my temper like that.  
  
  
  
I was back in Juuban, searching for my future general. Ah, there she was.  
Her earlier troubles had given me an idea. I staggered into the park where  
she was, all covered in burns and bruises, and collapsed where she'd see  
me. "Don't worry, lady." my chosen warrior said. She waited until my eyes  
were closed. Then she tried to heal me. The pain was excruciating, but I  
held on. Damn white magic anyhow.  
  
"No.. don't.. " I said raggedly. "That kind of power.. doesn't work on me."  
She seemed suprised at this.  
  
"You've seen others who can do magic?" she said excitedly. I nodded.  
  
"Of course. My name's Ranma."  
  
"Mine's Hotaru." she said. Her hope from finding someone who knew  
magic and didn't find her weird seemed to fade back into her customary  
depression. I got up.  
  
"Want to be friends?" I asked, and reached out my hand. She looked at it  
uncertainly for a few minutes.  
  
"Sure!" she said, as if making an important decision.  
  
"Want to go get some ice cream?" I said. Having someone to really teach  
in magic reminded me a little of being with Phibrizzo. Of course, she hadn't  
accepted yet, but she had no other friends. I knew the feeling. If I could  
win her over, I'd have an adviser that understood me, I think.  
  
"So what do you know about magic?" she said, as we walked away from  
the park. We passed this really strange pink haired girl on the way out. I  
looked at her funny for a second; she reeked of white magic, yet was pretty  
weak. But only for a second.  
  
  
  
At the ice cream parlor I deduced several things. First off, that this girl was  
up to her neck in trouble already. Second, that she'd probably end up  
falling into hands of the forces of darkness. I could sense some kind of dark  
bond between her and some other individual, presumably this world's  
version of a mazoku. While that was my general plan too, I wanted them to  
be MY hands. I took the pretext of going to the bathroom to go teleport to  
Wolf Pack Island and fetch a specific magical item I had in mind that I  
recovered from Phibrizzo's stash. Fortunately, I had not drained some of  
the more useful curios.  
  
"Ranma-chan! Whatever did happen to you?" Zelas said, seeing me in my  
current state of bedragglement.  
  
"Just a run in with an annoying ryuuzoku and his, er, her cronies." I said,  
remembering Herb's face when I splashed him. May you rot with that  
body, Herb. "I just came to pick something up. I'm doing a little  
recruitment." She nodded and gave me a knowing smile. I rolled my eyes.  
What the heck does she think I'm doing, picking up chicks? In this body no  
less?  
  
I got what I came for and came back. "Hey, Hotaru, check these out." I  
said, holding up what looked like a pair of glasses.  
  
"What are those?" she asked, picking them up and looking at them  
curiously.  
  
"Well, they let you see the true shape of anything that isn't too heavily  
shielded magically. You'll see through anything untrue." I knew I was safe.  
Mazoku have a real form that exists only on the Astral plane. Granted, she  
would see my curse, but hey, it's just a curse. Nothing that can't be  
demonstrated away. As long as I'm open about it. "Hey, look at me with  
them."  
  
"You're a guy!" she exclaimed. Then she glanced over the glasses, as if to  
check. "Why do you look like a girl then? And whats that swirling stuff?"  
she asked.  
  
"It's kinda a curse." I said sheepishly. "The swirling energy.. that's my  
magic." Actually it was probably my astral body, but that was fairly  
accurate, nonetheless.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked inquiringly. Good point. Think fast...  
  
"What do you think the glasses are for?" She nodded.  
  
"That's cool." She looked around the room. Most of the stuff in the room  
was normal, excepting me, so she wouldn't see much. "Hey, that plant is  
really a girl." she said. I looked at the plant in question. Sure enough, there  
were some weird emotions coming from the plant. Sort of disturbed,  
actually.  
  
"Huh? Let me see." I took a look through the glasses. Sure enough, I saw  
the unfortunately unforgettable Tsubasa in there. "Ah , that's just Tsubaka.  
Crossdresser, not a girl. Probably has a crush on some poor worker." I  
handed her the glasses back.  
  
"They showed you to be a boy."  
  
"Yeah, but I'm under a curse. Tsubasa is just weird."  
  
The walk we took after the snack was pretty strange too. I had given her  
my life story, skipping the bits about me being a shapeshifting evil demon  
with aspirations of power in a parallel dimension, and we had a nice,  
depressing, cathartic talk. It was kinda funny, neither of us knew our  
mothers and had obsessive dads. Both my fathers, actually. Eventually, we  
ended up near Hotaru's place. It positively belched black magic. Even  
Hotaru seemed to notice subconsciously.  
  
"OK, Hotaru, you can keep the glasses." I said, smiling.  
  
"Really?" she said excitedly.  
  
"Sure!" With that, she went into the house, wearing her glasses. The lady  
at the door she flinched at when she saw her. Good. That ought to get her  
nice and suspicious.  
  
  
  
I returned to the Tendo home to find a den of insanity and chaos  
unmatched in the world. In other words, everything was normal, including  
the three ring circus waiting for me to step in the middle. Shampoo and  
Ukyou were there, though only Ukyou had food. Aha.  
  
"No ramen?" I said innocently. Excellent. Ukyou and Akane got pissed at  
me showing Shampoo any favor, and Shampoo got annoyed because she  
didn't have any ramen to give her "Airen".  
  
"No. Hibachan have stupid male guests. Not want to stay in restaurant."  
she said, sulking. "Ranma take Shampoo on date, no? Shampoo bored."  
Guests?  
  
"Guests from China?" I asked, with that sinking feeling returning.  
  
"Hai. Stupid Musk." she said.  
  
Ukyou decided to speak up at that point. "I've got some fresh  
okonomiyaki for you, Ranchan, with extra pork just as you like it!" I only  
order the pork to annoy Ryouga, but hey...  
  
"Not today. I feel kinda sick." With that I went up to my room and decided  
to spy on the Musk.  
  
  
  
I collapsed down and pretended to sleep as I spied upon the meeting  
between Herb and Cologne.  
  
"So, you say this mazoku was a red haired girl?" she asked. Herb stopped  
stuffing her face with ramen and looked up.  
  
"No, I said the mazoku turned into a red headed girl." Herb said, returning  
to her meal.  
  
"Really." Cologne said, her hands shaking. "I.. I think I need to call  
Shampoo."  
  
Herb seemed amused by this. "What, you know this mazoku?" she asked.  
"What are you going to do, sing at him?"  
  
Cologne looked troubled. "I don't know what I'll do." she said. "I'm going  
to find out, though." She walked over to the phone and dialed the Tendo  
house. I could hear the phone ring at both ends, a strange thing. "Hello,  
Kasumi, is Shampoo there? Yes? Can you put her on?" There was a short  
pause, followed by the sound of argument from downstairs and a splash.  
"Ah, Shampoo. Is Ranma there? I'd like you to bring him over to the  
Nekohanten as soon as possible, alright? He's sick?" She looked over her  
shoulder at Herb. "Mazoku don't get sick, you know." she said, lidding her  
eyes.  
  
"How many Jusenkyo cursed people are there in this town?" Herb replied.  
  
"Quite a few."  
  
"That turn into redheaded girls?" Herb pressed.  
  
"You're right." Sigh. Going back to the phone, "Shampoo, tell the Tendos  
I need to perform a few tests. It is possible that Ranma has been possessed  
by a demon."  
  
I could hear Shampoo's "Aiyah!" all the way in my room. Perhaps this  
might be a good time to get more lost than a Hibiki family reunion. I  
quickly teleported out of the room to Juuban after assembling my pack.  
  
I knew that this day would come, and I'd be known for what I am, but I  
never expected it to be so soon.  
  
  
  
I ran into a crying Hotaru at night. "Ranma!" she yelled when she saw me.  
"It's so horrible!"  
  
"What is, Hotaru?"  
  
"The people in my house.. they.. they aren't people." She was shaking  
badly. Jeez, what the heck was going on in that house? "And my father...  
he.. he.." she said, crying. I grabbed her shoulders.  
  
"What is it, Hotaru?"  
  
"My father.. he's.. a monster..." she finished. I held her for a while. Her  
emotions were those of extreme fear and terror, normally delicious, but I  
refused them.  
  
"What do you mean, a monster?" I asked. "Some people might call me a  
monster, too." I put her down.  
  
"He.. he's this.. this THING." She shuddered with revulsion, apparently  
unwilling to describe the 'thing'. "And Kaolinite.. she looked normal, but  
she had swirling energy like you. And she had these ugly little creatures  
with her." I nodded. So this guy was cooking up home-brewed golems for  
the local mazoku. Interesting, there weren't supposed to be many left, and  
certainly not enough to pull off such a stunt. "And I noticed this black  
path.. it was barely there before, I almost didn't notice it. But in the house,  
I could see it. It went from me down into my father's laboratory. I didn't  
see what was on the other end. I don't think I want to." She disintegrated  
into mad sniffling again. I hated being the one to shatter her world, but  
maybe it was for the best that I had decided to make this pitch, from the  
sounds of it. I let her get it all out. The more completely she let go of her  
old life, the more completely she'd fall into the new one I had prepared for  
her.  
  
"Well.. I'm going to be honest with you." Honesty was the best policy.  
Mostly because the truth is the greatest lie of all. "I'm not human either."  
  
"Really?" she asked semi-fearfully. I nodded. When I didn't jump out of my  
skin and eat her, or whatever she was expecting, she seemed to come to a  
decision."Yeah, but you're nice."  
  
"I dunno. I'm like the distilled essence of black magic." She got this thrilled  
expression, the kind people get in horror movies when they want to be  
scared.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah. Really." We were walking aimlessly around again.  
  
"That's so cool. I wish I was like that." she said. "I wish I was strong,  
instead of plain old Hotaru."  
  
"You've got a lot of potential, actually. You know, I could make you into  
a magical powerhouse too, you know." I said, offhand. Here it finally was,  
the pitch. "We'd make a great team, I think."  
  
"I don't know." she said. We walked in silence for a little longer. "I'll think  
about it." We came to the Tokyo Tower. I figured by now Cologne has  
search parties out for me or something. I'd have to hide as Hotaru's dog or  
something. Of course, Nabiki would notice me, maybe, but I could handle  
her.  
  
"Stop." came a voice from right behind us. We turned slowly. A woman  
with red eyes and dark green hair in a really stupid outfit was pointing a  
staff at us. She must be a member of that team Zelas embarassed.  
  
"What do you want?" I asked, half bored.  
  
"I've seen you." the woman said. "I've been tracking you ever since I  
heard reports that someone turned into that monster. I don't know who  
you work for or what you're up to, but your work here is finished." She  
levelled the staff at me and whispered "Dead Scream." A big ball of energy  
slammed me into me, with some charring and smoking showing where it  
had hit. At least I had a name to go with the face now. Pluto, by her magic.  
  
I bit my lip and did not cry out. Some fights you won by not attacking. At  
all costs I must appear better than the nominal good guy to Hotaru. "I have  
no idea what evil you were about to do to this girl.." she said, firing  
another blast, "but you'll never harm her." She smiled slightly at that.  
  
"HARM ME?" Hotaru yelled. "Ranma is my friend!" With that, the  
sorceress attacking me suddenly switched targets.  
  
I jumped for Hotaru. "Hotaru! NO!" guessing correctly that the trigger-  
happy Pluto would fire at me when I moved. Of course, it looked like she  
was shooting at Hotaru. I took the hit in the back and slumped down.  
Hotaru looked at me, crying once again.  
  
"I wish I could do more than heal you.. but.." she whispered. She then got  
a hard look to her eyes. "Do it."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Transform me." Oh yeah. That. I grabbed her and forced black energy into  
her body, locating and severing the connections she had to both the one  
known as Sailor Moon and whatever dark entity seeked to rob her power  
in her house. I then gave her a bit of my power, just enough to transform  
her into a mazoku. Her own latent power did the rest.  
  
Hotaru stood up straighter, taller, head bowed, and pulled a wicked  
looking polearm out of thin air. I recognized the device as the Silence  
Glaive, a rather powerful black magic weapon that fell into the hands of the  
forces of the enemy. Her outfit vanished in a black smoke, revelaing a  
pitch-black version of the ridiculous outfit the other was wearing.  
  
"I remember now. You used to make fun of me..." she said, in a leaden  
voice. "All of you.. Venus... Jupiter.. Mars... but worst of all were the  
outers." She looked up at a now shaking Pluto.  
  
"How..how.. how did I miss this?" she said. "You! This is all your fault! I  
have no idea how you defied the Gates of Time, but it won't last for long!"  
  
"No, you won't last for long." Hotaru agreed. She then teleported right  
next to Pluto and struck her with the butt of the glaive. I started to ready a  
curse I had been taught for just such an occasion. Every mazoku knew it  
for when a target had to be taken down without killing. And with Hotaru  
providing a major beat-down as cover, I had all the time to prepare it.  
Which was good, I wasn't fast enough with the curses to just throw it and  
go.  
  
"Hotaru! Get back!" Her complaince was immediate. I cast the curse at  
Pluto, and was satisfied to see the red star seal appear under her feet. She  
instantly was returned to her street clothes. "Not so tough outside of your  
school uniform, huh?" I jeered. Hotaru smiled slightly and waved her  
polearm uncertainly. I shook my head. "No unnecessary killing." She  
appeared relieved. It wasn't like your morals got changed immediately  
when you were turned into a mazoku, just your instincts. Or so I'd read.  
"Let's go."  
  
Meanwhile Pluto was screaming at her pen. "Damn you! WHY WON'T  
YOU WORK!?!" She shook her fist at us as we retreated. "I'm going to  
get even with you two for this! You just wait!" She then got a panicky note  
to her voice. "Oh my god! If I can't.. YOU'VE DOOMED THE WORLD!  
I HOPE YOU'RE FUCKING HAPPY!!!" Neither of us needed to look  
back to know she was crying. The sudden relaxing of anger told us that.  
  
"Will the world get destroyed because of us?" Hotaru asked worriedly.  
  
"No. Not if I can help it." I said cheerfully. "That's our job!" Hotaru jerked  
as if stung.  
  
"But I don't want to destroy the world!" she cried.  
  
I stepped in front of her and wagged my finger. "In that case, we'll just be  
very incompetent at our job. Heh heh!"  
  
"So, what are we going to do?" she asked me, curiousity shining in her  
eyes.  
  
"Well, do you feel that tingle three blocks west?" I saw her nod in the  
darkness. "That's what we'll fight. It's a Daimon. We'll drain it, we'll get  
stronger, and innocent people will be saved." I made a qucik detour to a  
water fountain and splashed myself. Then I tried to use my power to mimic  
what I had felt Hotaru do when she had transformed. The result: one  
redhead in a dark black Sailor suit with a skirt the color of drying blood.  
"Let's look like a team!"  
  
Two groups of Senshi had already arrived on the scene. The redhead,  
whose name was Eudial if I remembered right, and her Daimon were  
duking it out with the large group of Senshi while the others were  
inspecting crystal thingies. "Those ones fighting the witch are the inner  
senshi. Those two who don't care are the outers." Dark fire flashed in her  
eyes. "I'd like to see them suffer."  
  
"For the crimes of a past life?"  
  
"Close enough for me." she said. "I'm not weak any more. And I'll get my  
revenge." We jumped down dramatically, and Hotaru rapped the glaive  
twice to get everyone's attention. Every sentai group had a cheesy  
entrance. We wouldn't disturb that fine tradition. "Deeper than the deepest  
night, warriors of darkness arise! We are the Dark Senshi!" Hotaru spun  
her glaive and took a crouching position. I took a one-legged crane stance  
and smiled evilly. "Prepare for pain!"  
  
  
  
Nice cliffhanger, no? This story is getting wildly different than what I  
imagined, and yet it's still looping back to the same general end.  
Sometimes I amaze me. I never thought this Ranma would ever end up in a  
fuku, but the notion of dark senshi running around, draining Daimons  
(convenient source of energy, that) and confusing the heck out of the other  
Senshi.  
  
The whole Saturn as black-magic misfit of the scouts came when I noticed  
the similarities between the Giga Slave and the Death Reborn Revolution.  
Both can go out of control and become the end of everything, both are  
fantastically deadly spells. I figured if any senshi was to break from the  
others, it's her. Oddly enough, the world is in less danger now that's she's  
with Ranma, as Usagi will never give Mistress 9-in-disguise the chalice (or  
whatever it was) thus putting the universe in mortal danger.  
  
Pluto is sealed. She can't use the time gate. She didn't allow herself to  
know who Saturn was, and Ranma is unseeable by the Gates of Time (his  
name should provide a clue why) This is the same thing done by Mazenda  
to Lina in NEXT, and is pretty much unreversible unless the mazoku  
responsible is destroyed.  
  
I have to thank everyone for all the mail. Keep on firing your questions at  
me, the C&C, even flames, random comments, whatever. It's all fun.  
  
Oh, and wild guesses are always welcome if you feel like predicting  
Ranma's actions. I always try to respond promptly - I'm on the computer  
most of the day, so I generally respond fast and often.  
  
Ranmazoku Chapter 5 - The Mind Of The Mazoku  
By PansutoTarou5925  
  
DISCLAIMER - I do not own the rights to Slayers nor do I  
own the rights  
to Ranma ½. Long live the rightful owners of these two fine  
anime. This work is non-commercial and is done only in  
imitation of Rumiko Takahashi and Hajime Kanzaka. Imitation  
is the sincerest flattery, no? US rights owned by Viz and  
Software Sculptors. If I mention the Senshi, Sailor Moon  
belongs to Naoko Takeuchi(Sp, anyone?) and.. and.. I dunno  
who has the US rights, but it's theirs not mine. (I'm drawing a  
blank)  
  
  
  
Author's note - This story originated from an idea on  
Nighthawk's page and is some guy named NesTea's fault. If  
he's reading this, I'm curious to know what he thinks of all this.  
Questioning me would be like questioning Xellos if you ask  
when the next section comes out, because it's a secret.  
  
ALTAVERSE WARNING - This is an ALTAVERSE. Events,  
characters and the like may not resemble canon. People who are  
rabid canon-thumpers beware! (and eat a Dragon Slave while  
you're at it)  
  
PREVIOUSLY - Ranma discovers he's not Genma's son, that  
Xellos is his father, that he's not even human, studies black  
magic under Phibrizzo, yadda yadda yadda, gets in a fight with  
Ryouga and curses a decent sized crowd to act like Kuno. Then  
he corrupts Hotaru into becoming a mazoku and is about to  
bust a wall of hurt on some poor Daimon and Eudial. Read the  
previous chapters, really, I'm not good at rehashing stuff.  
  
NOTE - [...] indicates telepathic communication between  
Ranma and Hotaru in the Astral plane.  
  
  
  
The groups of Senshi and their idiot opponents were still  
standing there, boggling at us in surprise. I snapped out of my  
one legged crane stance and took a more sentai pose, legs  
spread shoulder width, hand raised above my head. I then  
dramatically pointed at Eudial. Hotaru made her own series of  
flamboyant and pointless gestures, and I had to work to  
suppress a laugh.  
  
"I am the dread warrior of death, she who shall shroud the  
world in silence!" she said, smiling evilly, leveling her glaive at  
the Witch. "Sailor Saturn!"  
  
I took my cue from her. 'I am the dread warrior of chaos, she  
who shall bring strife!" I stopped pointing and made a fist over  
my heart, and opened my mouth as if to announce my name.  
Instead, I spat a blast of black energy at Eudial, sending her  
flying head over heels.  
  
"Hey! That was a dirty trick!' Orange Skirt yelled at me.  
"You're supposed to let everyone make their speeches first." I  
mentally indicated for Hotaru to take on Eudial while I drained  
the Daimon.  
  
"Who the heck told you how to fight, blondie?" I answered  
disparagingly. The Daimon, being the first to recover as it had  
no brains, immediately attacked the white-garbed scouts. They  
immediately went into "jump and scatter" mode, running around  
in a panic. "Pathetic." I said, summing up their battle tactics. I  
looked at the scattered heart crystals that the two taller Senshi  
were studying and gave a brief thought to draining them as well,  
but decided against it. It was generally a better tactic to drain  
people who were unsympathetic, like the Witches and their  
Daimons. They didn't have allies. I fired a powerful blast of  
black flecked with gold at the Daimon, drawing its attention  
away from its hapless targets. Good.  
  
Meanwhile, Hotaru had Eudial on the ropes. That magic  
"Buster" thing was proving fairly useless on Hotaru - she had  
no actual heart crystal to take.. And judging by the nicks and  
cuts she got from the glaive, Eudial was going to have to leave  
soon. I'd better get this over with. Teleporting behind the  
Daimon, which oddly looked like some kind of mutant  
bubblegum machine, I ripped a parking meter from the ground  
and slammed it through the Daimon's back in one smooth  
movement. "Die slowly and painfully" I said smugly, and  
grabbed the Daimon with one hand while twisting the meter to  
more fully savor the pain of the unintelligent servitor. Then I  
started to yank out the raw magical power that the thing  
possessed. It screamed and trashed as the real senshi quickly  
got sick. I had gotten a good deal of the energy away before  
Eudial called it quits and teleported away. I dropped what was  
left of the Daimon. It reverted to a normal gumball machine. I  
stomped on it, crushing it and sending candy rolling  
everywhere.  
  
"Feh." I said, giving a good sneer. The Senshi, still green-faced,  
seemed to want to talk to us. I wasn't going to have anything to  
do with a bunch of weakling prissy sentai types, so I motioned  
to Hotaru to leave. She vanished with a swirl of black misty  
energy, causing the Senshi to flinch for a second."See you  
around, wimps." With that, I melted away into the Astral plane  
and vanished from sight. [Hotaru, lets stick around and see  
where they go.]  
  
[OK, Ranma. You haven't steered me wrong yet.] Hotaru  
affirmed. We decided to lay low until the Senshi left the scene,  
and followed them back to a shrine.  
  
  
  
We carefully moved about so as to not attract the attention of  
the magically gifted Senshi. It became quickly apparent,  
however, that we needn't bother. They seemed virtually  
powerless once out of those Senshi costumes. [Pervert] Hotaru  
thought to me impishly.  
  
[Nothing I haven't seen before.] I replied, remembering their  
detransformation sequence. [Wonder what kind of hentai  
developed the spell they use, though.]  
  
Hotaru was silent for a second. [It was Artemis. I don't  
remember much about him, though. He was an aide to Serenity,  
though, so he must have been quite powerful.]  
  
[Heh. Quiet.] The Senshi, who had been just killing time and  
grabbing snacks until now, were sitting near an open door and  
talking about.. us.  
  
"I don't know. They can't be members of our team. You saw  
what they were wearing." said the one they called Rei. "We  
don't wear black. Especially not with leather and spikes."  
  
"Rei's right. They are likely to be our enemies too." Ami added.  
"I analyzed the energies they emitted. They were very unlike  
ours. Some similarities to what Jadite and the other Negaverse  
generals were using, but not an exact match."  
  
"Waaah! Why do we always have to have more enemies?"  
Usagi wailed, doing a credible Soun-imitation. "Why can't we  
have a bunch of new Senshi for once?"  
  
"Grow up, meatball head." Rei snarled.  
  
"At least these enemies are also enemies of the Witches Five."  
Ami said, trying to defuse the argument between Rei and Usagi.  
  
"That's not any relief. They were kicking around Eudial with  
ease. And they don't fight alone." Makoto added, trying to help  
Ami get their attention.  
  
[Their enemies attack one at I time?] I snorted. [What idiots.]  
Hotaru giggled.  
  
The Senshi, on the other hand, seemed to be struck dumb by  
this new tactic we had used. Having multiple powerful enemies  
strike at once... it must have shattered their little world. I  
couldn't begin to comprehend how these fledgling white  
sorceresses and their ditzy phoenix-kin leader could have  
managed to defeat half the enemies they were reported to have  
destroyed.  
  
[Hey, look at this.] I thought to Hotaru. I called her over to  
inspect the Usagi girl's head. [Most of her brain is empty. Look,  
there's only a few strong thought elements and all of this  
gibberish in there.] I could feel Hotaru's presence moving closer  
to mine in the Astral plane, and could tell when she started to  
poke around in Usagi's head - the blonde started to rub her  
head. [Careful, there, you're giving her a headache.]  
  
[This isn't gibberish.] Hotaru thought back. [This is some kind  
of magical programming. Look at the magical alterations done  
to her brain.] I took a closer look. Sure enough, if you looked  
at it - now, that's only a metaphor for what I was doing, my  
normal senses aren't terribly useful on the Astral - kind of  
cross-eyed, like one of those stupid American 3-D puzzles, a  
depth previously hidden popped out. It was like the brains of a  
few hundred people had been stuffed in this girl's head.  
  
[Cool.] I thought, inspecting the hidden depths. [Very cool. I  
would have never thought to try that. It must be an advanced  
Silver Millennium technique to protect them from mental  
attacks.] I could feel Hotaru nod.  
  
[That's about right, by my memories.. each royal family of the  
different planets had their own methods, but the inner royalty all  
used the lunar pattern on the Senshi.] she thought.  
  
[That still doesn't explain why all the extra space is filled with  
gibberish.] I thought. I mentally plucked at one of the mental  
thought paths.  
  
[NO, DON'T-] Hotaru yelled. Usagi suddenly stood up and, as  
if in a trance, held her slice of pizza in front of her face and  
gestured.  
  
"MOON... HEALING... ACTIVATION!" she called out,  
performing a perfect, stereotyped magical blast, sans magic.  
The other girls just blinked at her.  
  
"Gee, Usagi, the pizza wasn't THAT bad." Makoto joked.  
  
"Yeah, it isn't like you cooked it," Rei said snidely. "But a  
Moon Healing Activation couldn't heal your cooking." The rest  
of the Senshi laughed while Usagi turned beet red.  
  
[Not bad,] we both thought to each other.  
  
"I.. I.. " Usagi said, confused. "Hey! I didn't mean to do that!"  
she protested, getting another round of laughter from the  
Senshi.  
  
Minako broke out of the latest giggle fit. "Wow, it must be  
automatic for you when presented with harmful substances."  
She poked at the pizza with one finger. "This stuff tastes like it  
was cooked by the Mallet Girl."  
  
"The Mallet Girl is just an urban legend!" Ami spoke up.  
  
"One of my friends in Nerima says it's true."  
  
"Your friend in Nerima saw a guy turn into a duck."  
  
"EVEN SO..."  
  
[So that's what those thread strings are. They must have  
hardwired the spells into the brains of the Senshi.] I mused.  
[Wanna have some fun?]  
  
[Sure, what do you have in mind.... oh.. that!] Hotaru mentally  
giggled for a while. [That'll be fun! What do you want to do?]  
she thought, starting to poke around in her head some more.  
  
[Let's alter all the spells to fire Dragon Slaves!] I thought  
excitedly. Then I realized the downside of that, and felt shame  
as Hotaru put out an aura of disbelief. [On second thought let's  
not. How about if we give her the.. hmm... Rah Tilt? I don't  
think the Senshi can handle black magic anyhow, and giving  
them the Dragon Slave would be an invitation for trouble...  
they'd start shooting them at us. Well, she might only shoot it  
off once.. but even still!]  
  
[Ranma, you're rambling.]  
  
[Oh.]  
  
[Let's just swap all of the Senshi's spells between them. I really  
don't know how the mental programming was carried out, so  
we wouldn't be able to swap in any new spells anyhow.]  
  
[Too bad. Let's just cycle all their magic one person to the left.]  
That turned out to be Usagi to Makoto, Makoto to Ami, Ami  
to Rei, Rei to Minako, and Minako back to Usagi. Not that we  
didn't run into snags.  
  
[Hey, stop shoving! Oops.] Hotaru thought, as the two of us  
were transferring the mental programming from Usagi to  
Makoto. While we were ah, arguing over whether to transfer  
the old useless weak spells or not, sh accidentally brushed up  
against one of the few non-magic related threads in Usagi's  
mind.  
  
"ICE CREAM!" she yelled, disrupting our work and rushing  
from the room.  
  
[Well, that one's shot. Maybe we should just AAARRGH!] I  
thought, panicking. THEY were here. I could feel them.  
Hideous, shadowy, evil... I'd like them if they weren't all out to  
kill me.  
  
"We can't find them anywhere." the black beast said. Talking c-  
c-c-caaats... what kind of hideous monsters were these Senshi?  
  
[Ranma, what the heck is wrong with you?] Hotaru whispered.  
  
[C-c-c-c-cats!] I thought back, freaking. Hotaru sweatdropped  
(a hard feat when incorporeal). I shuddered and tried to remain  
as still as possible, not really feeling relief that I was in the  
Astral plane. The black one seemed to be looking right at me..  
right before it opened its horrible mouth...  
  
Then the white abyssal creature opened its fang-filled mouth.  
"Frankly, I feel they were just some sort of ruse created by our  
enemy... did anyone hear that growl?" he said.  
  
I could see prey. My pridemate was signaling her worry, but I  
did not heed her. I materialized to take down my tormentors  
and their allies. "MRROOWRR..." I rumbled, shattering the den  
of these vile creatures. The prey scattered and screamed, then  
poking their heads up from behind. Panic. Fear. Terror.  
  
The hunt will be a good one. I drool.  
  
I hear words.. but I do not understand them. I only understand  
the weave, the ripple of magic. I see in shades of fear. There.  
Ghastly black raven's claws shred the threat before it hits.  
Fragments of shattered magic fall across my snout. I yowl, an  
inhuman sound, a sound not meant to be heard by the ears of  
man. I smell urine - is this the territory of another? Or is the  
prey preparing to flee?  
  
I snarl viciously, leaping forward at the two small cat-creature,  
seeking to rend their very flesh. They freeze, stunned, as my  
claws reach to shred them apart... I am struck! Fire!  
  
I turn around, seeing the females. They look different. More  
confident. Less scared. Not fun. Not tasty.  
"grrrrrooooowwrrrrrr..." I rumble, then gather my breath.  
  
"KROOOOOAAAR!" bellow my lungs, power coursing  
through the roar, shattering windows, blasting them backwards  
from sheer sonic force. I leap forward and grab the one that  
burned me in my jaws. I tear apart their lair and rush to my den  
with my prize. I feel the presence of my pridemate near me.  
Worry? I will destroy what worries a part of the pack.  
  
The Pack?  
  
No, it is a pride.. a pride.. I snarl. What is this noise in my head?  
I drop my prize and turn around.  
  
I am confused. I am a wolf. No! I am a cat...a cat...  
  
I feel a pain in my head, and my world goes black.  
  
  
  
I came to on the Astral plane, my presence enveloped in  
Hotaru's. [Ranma, what just happened?] she asked fearfully.  
  
I swore. [Neko-ken.] Damn. Just what I needed. I suppose I  
should go hunting for the scouts tonight - they were likely to be  
having tasty nightmares for a week. Unfortunately, I had other  
things to do. [To make a long story short, the person I thought  
was my father decided to throw me in a pit of cats until my  
mind snapped and I thought I was a cat.] I looked around and  
decided I'd much rather be on the material plane. [Look, just  
materialize and I'll tell you the whole story.] With that, I took  
my normal, chinese-clothes wearing form, and Hotaru  
materialized soon after. We were pretty far from the temple the  
Senshi had been in, but still in Juuban. "I'll tell you as we walk  
back."  
  
"I thought you said everyone was after you back home." Hotaru  
asked confusedly. "You're just going to walk right into the  
firestorm?"  
  
"Why, you have a better idea?"  
  
Hotaru grinned wickedly. "We could hunt down the outers. I  
mean, it was fun watching you rip into the Inner Senshi like  
that, but it's the Outers I really want to hurt." Her eyes went all  
distant on em. Apparently she was reliving her previous life.  
"They're such hypocritical bastards, all of them."  
  
"In that case, next time I'll handle the Witch and you can beat  
on them a little."  
  
"A little? Hey, you haven't told me why you went nuts yet, you  
know."  
  
"Ah." I said, taking a long breath. "There is this martial arts  
technique said to be invincible in combat. A technique so  
dreaded and terrifying that it has been sealed. The technique is  
the Cat-Fist, the Neko-ken, that models its fighting on the spirit  
of the c-cat. Unfortunately, anyone who learns the technique  
becomes deathly afraid of cats."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because, Hotaru, to learn the Neko-ken, the student must be  
wrapped head to toe in fish sausages and thrown into a pit of c-  
cats. Hungry c-cats. C-cats that will rip and shred and claw and  
bite and.. and.." I mumbled madly, seeing those little slit eyes  
glowing in the dark, reaching, reaching, claws... "NO!" I yelled,  
then suddenly looked around. "Oops."  
  
Hotaru sweated a little. "I think I've heard enough. So, the  
person who raised you was a moron?"  
  
"Don't say that. It's insulting." I said, scolding Hotaru.  
  
"What? But he - he.."  
  
"No moron should EVER be compared to Genma!" I said,  
turning back towards Nerima, careful to keep a straight face. I  
managed to keep it even when I heard Hotaru giggling.  
  
  
  
Nerima didn't look too different since I left. A bit more banged  
up, to be sure, but not all that suprising, given the fact that a  
small army of demented kendoists had been fighting earlier. For  
all I knew, and in fact odds alone favored it, there were still a  
few of the accursed fighting it out over girls.  
  
Of course, who did I see upon entering but Ukyou.  
  
"Ranma!" she yelled, and glomped me, earning an angry stare  
from Hotaru. Ukyou glared right back. "This better not be  
another new fiancee, Ranma. Don't tell me she's another  
fiancee."  
  
"Well, if you say so, I won't tell you that."  
  
"RANMA!" Ukyou yelled. "Be serious!" She got a more  
concerned look and stood closer to me. "I've heard the most  
awful rumor about you going around town!"  
  
I shifted uncomfortably. "And what rumor would that be?" I  
asked, having a very good idea.  
  
"They say you're some kind of demon, Ran-chan." Ukyou said  
in a dangerous tone. "Something called a mazoku. Cologne says  
it like you're the most horrible thing around... is that so?"  
  
I sputtered in feigned outrage. "Ukyou! How can you believe  
such things! That's like something Kuno would say!"  
  
Ukyou gave me an even more dangerous look. "Then explain  
your actions lately, Ran-chan. You've been acting very strange.  
It's no suprise the bimbo and our good gorilla girl haven't  
noticed, but I like to think I'm smarter than them. You've either  
got a new girlgriend or are secretly sneaking off to do whatever  
demons do." She glared at me and grabbed her spatula,  
something that got Hotaru to take a step to the side, the better  
to blast Ukyou without hitting me. "It had better not be a new  
girl."  
  
"I'll tell you if you keep it a secret." I said, smirking.  
  
"That's fine with me." Ukyou said, giving Hotaru a new glare.  
  
"I'm a mazoku like Cologne thinks."  
  
"So I still have a chance?" Ukyou asked, suddenly hopeful.  
  
"W-What?" I asked, having to peel my face off the ground after  
that. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Hotaru doing the same.  
  
"When the other girls learn you're a demon they'll break off  
their engagements! And then you and I can get married and  
URK!" Ukyou gasped for air as Hotaru grabbed her throat in a  
viselike grip.  
  
"What makes you think Ranma would ever marry a weakling  
mortal girl like you?" Hotaru growled, then smashed Ukyou  
into the street.  
  
"Why would he marry a short little underage dem..on.. girl..."  
heh heh.." Ukyou laughed lightly. "Sorry! Gotta go! Discretion  
is the better part of valor and all that!" she yelled over her  
shoulder as she fled Hotaru.  
  
"You aren't developing a crush on me, are you?" I teased.  
  
"N-no! Of course not, Lord Ranma." Hotaru said. "I just can't  
bear to see you pawed like that." she continued, looking away.  
"We should get going now, shouldn't we?"  
  
[Oh HELL no... she does have a crush] I thought, pinching my  
nose. I noticed Hotaru blush and stumble and then ruefully  
remembered that she could hear any of my 'louder' thoughts.  
Oops. I shook my head. This was not happening to me. This  
was not happening... "Let's just get Nabiki and get out of here.  
They obviously know and believe I'm a mazoku - we won't be  
welcome here."  
  
Hotaru nodded. The two of us quickly phased to the Astral  
plane and started our search for Nabiki where Cologne's posse  
couldn't reach.  
  
  
  
We found Nabiki in the Tendo home, along with Kasumi. They  
were the only ones present... apparently, Cologne had recruited  
the rest into hunting me down. As if!  
  
"I still can't believe he was a demon, Nabiki." Kasumi said,  
sitting down. "He was always so nice..."  
  
"Neither did I, Kasumi. Pass that over here." Nabiki gratefully  
took the bottle of sake form her older sister. "And I'm  
supposed to be on top of this sort of thing. I suppose I should  
have known Ranma wasn't really a werewolf."  
  
Kasumi looked at her sister very strangely for a second. "Why  
would you think he was a werewolf?" she wondered aloud.  
  
Nabiki poured a large amount of sake in a glass, handed the  
glass to Kasumi, and started drinking from the bottle. "Just  
some little things. All of it must have been a smokescreen. Had  
to have been." Nabiki stopped drinking and stared at the ceiling.  
"He was always too dumb acting. It should have been a clue."  
  
Kasumi looked at her in confusion.  
  
"It's something I should have known, Kasumi. The best way to  
hide anything sneaky is to act stupid. No one suspects a dumb  
guy of anything."  
  
Kasumi nodded, sipping at her own sake. "He never did seem to  
display quite the same brilliance outside of his fights, did he?"  
  
"Yeah." Nabiki looked glum. "I should have known. I should  
have known." She shook her head and left to her room. "'Night,  
Kasumi. I'm going to bed."  
  
"I'll see you in the morning little sister." Kasumi said, clearing  
away the mess.  
  
Ranma and Hotaru silently followed Nabiki from the Astral.  
[Hotaru, stay offplane. We could use a nasty suprise at the  
worst possible moment if someone attacks.]  
  
[Can't you just crush them yourself? That Herb person you  
talked about isn't around here, and the others are just those  
cruel mortals.] Hotaru complained. [I don't want to be stuck on  
this plane while you have all the fun.]  
  
[Just stay there for now. I like my suprises to be final.] As  
Nabiki closed her door, we phased through and hovered by her  
bed. I tried to mask my voice. It was time to have some fun  
with the Ice Queen herself. "NABIKI....." my voice boomed out  
in her room. Nabiki jumped up and looked around.  
  
"Ranma! Show yourself!" she commanded. I materialized  
behind her, poking her with a finger. "EEEK!" she shrieked.  
"Don't do that!" I put a finger over my lips.  
  
"I thought I would be able to fool you. It's good to see you  
aren't so easily fooled." I said, inspecting the sleeve of my shirt.  
I straightened up and looked her in the eyes. "I think I'll make  
you an offer you can't refuse." I said, stepping towards Nabiki.  
  
She pointed her finger towards me. "Don't come closer or I'll  
scream." I laughed.  
  
"Like I really give a damn." I grabbed her and walked over to  
the window and yanked it open. "Oh look, I'M IN NABIKI'S  
ROOM! COME AND GET ME IF YOU CAN YOU OLD  
DRIED UP TROLL DOLL!" Then, in a squeaky falsetto, I  
added, "Please! Come save me, he's stealing all my yen!" I  
stood there checking an imaginary watch for a few minutes. I  
heard Kasumi beating on the door but I could ignore that. "Oh  
well, I suppose no one wants to rescue you. How tragic. Now-"  
  
The door exploded inwards as Kasumi lowered her leg from a  
high kick. "You! Get away from my sister!" Kasumi said, tears  
shining in her eyes. She advanced on me rustily, yet showing  
signs that at some age she had been a good martial artist.  
  
"Too bad you never bothered to develop your talent," I said  
appreciatively, "but I'm not letting your sister slip away. Bai  
bai..." I said, and teleported with Nabiki to Kasumi's room  
down the hall. I savored the sweet nourishment of Kasumi's  
heartrending scream. She thought her sister had been spirited  
off to some hell.  
  
Nabiki reeled back her hand and slapped me across the face.  
"You inhuman bastard!" she yelled. "That was Kasumi!" I  
cocked my head to the side, pretending to think.  
  
"Yes, I suppose that was uncalled for. Would you like me to  
reassure her that you're all right?" I said, careful not to smile.  
  
"Of course!" Nabiki said.  
  
"I suppose you'll have to do very well in your training, then." I  
said, tapping my chin with one finger. "Otherwise, you might  
die, and I can't do that. It would break her heart. On the other  
hand, if you were to help me, you'd have the kind of money and  
power you've always wanted." I dangled the bait and waited for  
a nibble.  
  
"What kind of training?" Nabiki asked, still hatefully. "I'm not  
stupid enough to get fooled by you again."  
  
"Oh, Nabiki," I put my hand to my forehead dramatically, "what  
must I do to convince you of my sincerity?"  
  
Nabiki just glared at me.  
  
"Oh, come on. If you die or go away, who's going to handle the  
finances? Who's going to get the tax man to conveniently look  
away when you pay none? I could ensure that that will never  
happen, that you can go ahead and manipulate to your heart's  
content, and never fear anything the government or yakuza  
would try to do to you."  
  
"I'm not fool enough to trust anything said by a demon."  
  
"Even an honorable one? Do I go back on my word?" I pressed.  
  
"You'll just find a way to twist the words around." she  
countered.  
  
"I promise not to twist any words around. In return for your  
service to me as a lieutenant of a future Lord of the Mazoku, I  
will ensure that you are capable of protecting your family and  
providing them with the wealth they need to survive. Few if any  
of this world will be able to hurt you." I smiled; I felt the  
familiar stirrings of greed from Nabiki.  
  
"Immortality?" she asked, licking her lips.  
  
I glanced up. "It might be mine to offer, if you accept."  
  
"With immortality, I wouldn't even need to work hard for a  
fortune. Time would do it for me." Nabiki paced for a moment.  
"I need your word that I will not die."  
  
"I give it. Barring, of course, being attacked by something  
stronger and an enemy of ours." I answered.  
  
Greed shone on her face. I needed no special empathic ability to  
know that. "I'll take it." With that, I opened the gate to the  
Slayers world and shoved her through.  
  
[Hotaru, follow her. I'll join you in a second.]. I waited until a  
teary eyed Kasumi opened her door. Seeing me she grew  
enraged and attacked. "It's nice to see you, too."  
  
"What have you done with Nabiki!" she raged.  
  
"Nothing much, just sent her to another world. I'll bring her  
back, don't worry. I won't kill her or anything." I turned  
around, ready to open the gate again.  
  
"Or nothing.." she whispered. I looked at her.  
  
"What was that?"  
  
"Before, you would have said 'I won't kill her or nothin'"  
Kasumi said. "How long have you been hiding it? Does your  
mother know?"  
  
I thought. "I hid it even from myself, it seems. And I don't even  
know my mother. So I can't tell if she knows. Someday, I'm  
sure, I'll ask her." I opened the gate. "Don't follow me."  
  
I stepped through the gate, looking back at Kasumi. The anger,  
as usual, had fled her face. Unlike her sisters, she would have  
never made a good mazoku.  
  
  
  
The Desert of Destruction. It's lonely, level sands stretch for  
hundreds of miles in every direction. It is an expanse of endless  
baked rock and flying sand, inhospitable to life.  
  
It was Phibrizzo's home.  
  
I had opened the gate to the middle of the great expanse of  
sand, and allowed Nabiki to collapse there. She was huddled up  
in a small ball, shielding herself from flying sand and rock. It  
also protected her from the brutal heat of the sun. This entire  
area was like one big, huge oven. The mummified remains of a  
camel lay perhaps forty feet away. "Ah, Nabiki, I see you've  
made it to our garden spot."  
  
"What the hell is this place?" she yelled, her voice fighting the  
driving wind.  
  
"It's a desert. THE desert. One that makes the Sahara seem  
tame in its total lack of life. Nothing can long remain alive here.  
I wonder how long you'll last?" I said, giving her an appraising  
stare. "Hotaru, you can stop hiding on the Astral." With that,  
Hotaru materialized.  
  
"I thought you said you wouldn't hurt me!" Nabiki yelled.  
  
"No, I promised I'd make you immortal. Now, see, Hotaru here  
was part mazoku to begin with, so I could just purify her. You,  
on the other hand, are human. So, in order for me to make you  
a mazoku, you have to die first, so I can remake your entire  
spirit. Also, I said I wouldn't hurt you. And I won't. The  
desert will do quite well, thank you."  
  
"Damnit Ranma, that's not what I meant!" she wailed.  
  
"I'm not giving you what you want. I'm giving you what you  
need." I said, explaining things, much like a teacher. "You want  
to be immortal? You want to be strong? Fine. I can get you to  
be that way. But they don't come easy. You've been slacking  
off and protected by how small-time you were in your little  
operations. But that was a dangerous road you took. Eventually  
you'd piss someone off enough, and BANG - no more Nabiki."  
I turned her over, forcing her blinking eyes to make contact.  
"I'm correcting your own mistakes, and giving you an  
oppritunity you never dreamed of! So stop your whining!"  
  
"Just kill me and get it over with!" she screamed.  
  
"No! You want this, you have to earn it. How much power I  
grant you is going to be determined by how long you last before  
you die." I turned away, dropping my old pack out of my  
subspace pocket. "See what you can do with this. Necessity is  
the mother of all invention, and I want your mind at a razor's  
edge. Stay alive." I teleported, Hotaru following.  
  
  
  
Hooray! It's done! It's over! The chapter 5 mental block is  
doen with! Now I've got to write chapter 6....  
  
Chapter 6 will feature Ranma and Hotaru meeting Gourry,  
everyone's favorite mush-brained swordsman. I meant for it to  
happen here, but the chapter dragged on.. I try for 30 KB more  
or less... I will only be posting this to the PMFFML, the Delphi  
Fanfic Chat, and sending it to a few FFML readers who may not  
have the PMFFML, because I plan to be making the rest so  
soon. Dunno if I post tomorrow or not. Hey, three are taken,  
one remains. What should Chaotic Blue's world be? Currently I  
lean towards Trigun, but my mind is rarely made up...  
suggestions? There's no real reason for the series to eventually  
cross over with it, but it might be interesting for Ranma to run  
across references to the series and such in his researching.  
  
We all know who Ranma's priest candidate is, right? She's  
going to have a fun time out in the sand.  
  
If Hotaru's character is off here, remember she's just been  
turned into a mazoku, is actually strong now and not easily  
winded and sickly, is slightly older looking, and has had her  
Silver Millenium memories returned. And no, she doesn't look  
back with much fondness; Saturn was shunned then too.  
  
Ranmazoku Chapter 6 - The Right Blade For The Job  
By PansutoTarou5925  
  
DISCLAIMER - I do not own the rights to Slayers nor do I  
own the rights to Ranma ½. Long live the rightful owners of  
these two fine anime. This work is non-commercial and is done  
only in imitation of Rumiko Takahashi and Hajime Kanzaka.  
Imitation is the sincerest flattery, no? US rights owned by Viz  
and Software Sculptors. If I mention the Senshi, Sailor Moon  
belongs to Naoko Takeuchi(Sp, anyone?) and.. and.. I dunno  
who has the US rights, but it's theirs not mine. (I'm drawing a  
blank)  
  
  
  
Author's note - This story originated from an idea on  
Nighthawk's page and is some guy named NesTea's fault. If  
he's reading this, I'm curious to know what he thinks of all this.  
Questioning me would be like questioning Xellos if you ask  
when the next section comes out, because it's a secret.  
  
ALTAVERSE WARNING - This is an ALTAVERSE. Events,  
characters and the like may not resemble canon. People who are  
rabid canon-thumpers beware! (and eat a Dragon Slave while  
you're at it)  
  
PREVIOUSLY - Ranma discovers he's not Genma's son, that  
Xellos is his father, that he's not even human, studies black  
magic under Phibrizzo, yadda yadda yadda, gets in a fight with  
Ryouga and curses a decent sized crowd to act like Kuno. Then  
he corrupts Hotaru into becoming a mazoku and put a world of  
hurt on some poor Daimon and Eudial. Afterwards he spied on  
the Inners, took Nabiki, and got Kasumi angry! Read the  
previous chapters, really, I'm not good at rehashing stuff.  
  
NOTE - [...] indicates telepathic communication between  
Ranma and Hotaru in the Astral plane.  
  
  
  
Ranma and Hotaru teleported to the edge of the town. "Now,  
we heard that they're still travelling together for a bit after  
destroying Phibrizzo. This sword is one of two that I know of  
that is capable of doing what I need. So.. take your disguise." I  
said, turning to Hotaru.  
  
With a look of intense concentration Hotaru shifted her form,  
growing shorter and... cuter. Her former short, dark blouse and  
skirt transofrmed into an annoyingly cute white travelling outfit  
complete with cape and pink trim. Little ornaments with star  
degins completed the look. "I look... I look..."  
  
"Kawaii." We both made faces at that. Getting a little water, I  
splashed myself, then began altering myself.  
  
"No.. no.. a bit shorter.. the eyes are more orange, you're red..  
hmm.." Hotaru looked at me pensively. "Something seems to be  
off."  
  
I looked all over my (altered) female body. "What? What? I  
don't see anything wrong with me.."  
  
"I think you're a little too big." Hotaru answered.  
  
"Too big?" I thought, looking down. "Hey! I am not  
overweight!"  
  
After recovering from her facefault, Hotaru shook her head.  
"No, your breasts are too big. Make them smaller." She smiled  
evilly. "Akane sized, from what you've told me." I made the  
necessary adjustments and noted that Hotaru's expected  
devotion to her lord was a little less platonic than I hoped.  
  
"Let's just hang out on the Astral plane until Lina and Amelia  
are separate from the rest." I said, wondering why I was picking  
up girls right or left. And Hotaru was a mazoku, she shouldn't  
even be in love...  
  
  
  
Our targets were sitting in an inn. And doing a job of eating that  
put would have put Genma or I to shame.  
  
"Gourry! That one's mine!" the real Lina Inverse said, grabbing  
a particularly choice portion of meat. Her blonde companion  
managed to deflect her from taking most of his food, however,  
and retaliated, swiping a salad form in front of Lina. Lina  
attempted the difficult two-drumsticks-at once feat and  
protected her plate with her elbow.  
  
Only one who has long studied Anything-goes can appreciate  
such artistry, such mastery.  
  
"They're slobs." Hotaru said, distracting me from my learned  
observation. "Look at all the food they're spilling." The two of  
us had gotten bored spying on them from the Astral, and it was  
possible that Lina might notice us if we stuck around too long  
like that. So instead, we were hiding under robes in the corner  
of the inn.  
  
Granted, Genma and I were less messy than these two. But  
there was a certain ferocity, a barbaric brutality not seen in my  
own food duels. At this rate, the food would soon be finished,  
even given the copious amounts they had ordered. I was ready  
to cry. The sacrifices I had to make for my mission! I pulled my  
hood down closer over my head. From where we were seated,  
the companions couldn't see us. Our plan was simple. First, we  
wait until Lina and Amelia separate from the others. Then, we  
descend upon the small-brained swordsman and 'borrow' the  
Sword of Light. The only problem was that the people in  
question were finishing off a meal fit for fourty and showing no  
signs of slowing down. "This is getting old. Wait right here." I  
got up and walked into the kitchen nonchalantly. It was a  
whirlwind of activity, chefs running all over the place to try to  
keep ahead of the ravenous demand from one table.  
  
"Hey! What are you doing back here?" an annoyed waiter said,  
bumping into me. I gave him an evil smile, and punched him.  
  
A waiter flying headfirst into a giant pot of soup will grab  
anyone's attention. I worked fast, smashing as much of the  
kitchen as I could while fending off the wild attacks of the  
cooks. For a trained martial artist, defeating a horde of  
untrained but highly motivated attackers is child's play. Even  
Akane can do it. Defeating said horde while simultaneously  
demolishing a room and devouring all the food (except for the  
soup), that takes skill. I finished off the chefs and left through a  
window. I didn't want Lina to catch me coming out of the  
kitchen. There would be hell to pay if that happened.  
  
I walked back in and sat back down with Hotaru just as Lina  
got word of the untimely destruction of the kitchen. "WHAT?"  
she screamed. The waiter was picked up and looked as if he  
were about to piss his pants or something. Lina could have  
taught Soun a thing or two about the demon head strike. Then  
she collapsed and turned big teary eyes on the waiter. "Then..  
no strawberry cheesecake?" The waiter shook his head stiffly.  
"No ice cream parfait with cherries and whipped cream?"  
Amelia was beginning to feel a little teary at this, too, as the  
waiter shook his head. Lina dropped him back on his feet. "No  
apple cobbler?" She was answered by a final shake of the head.  
  
"No miss, our kitchen was destoyed by some.. er... what are  
you doing?" he said, nervously looking down at the growling  
Lina. He was quickly pulled back by a nervous Gourry and  
Zelgadis.  
  
"Look, you don't want to be near her when she hasn't had her  
sugar fix for the day." Zelgadis said calmly.  
  
"I beg your pardon?" the nervous waiter asked. Lina, on the  
other hand, was marching across the inn to some scruffy types  
at the bar.  
  
"Just watch. She has to let off steam somehow." Zelgadis said,  
taking a sip of tea and keeping one eye on Lina. I elbowed  
Hotaru. Lina and company weren't the only ones getting a good  
meal at this inn, and we could tell the fun hadn't even started.  
  
"Let's see what happens. We might be making some changes to  
our plans." I said, standing up. It didn't require mazoku senses  
to tell the shit was about to hit the fan.  
  
"ALL your plans seem to be redone on the fly." Hotaru  
mumbled as she shifted in her chair. "Can't you ever commit to  
one course of action?"  
  
I loked wounded. "Don't be silly. Flexibility and adaptability are  
my trademarks. And you get that by NEVER committing.  
Especially this early in the game." I turned back to Lina. "I bet  
those guys are bandits, or wannabe bandits, and she's going to  
have them for dessert."  
  
Sure enough, Lina walked up to the biggest and meanest of the  
lot and poked him in the shoulder. "Hey. I've heard you boys  
are thieves." she said conversationally. The big guy shifted  
around in his chair to face her.  
  
"So what if we are..URK!" he answered, then got a look at his  
questioner. "It's LINA INVERSE!" he gasped. The rest of the  
roughs got up in shock. Lina preened, assuaged by her  
notoriety. "The natural enemy of all who live!" That made the  
anger roll off of her in waves. Hotaru and I took a few steps  
closer to the cornucopia. Most of the people had a slightly  
different reaction.  
  
"I dunno about that, Mr Bandit," she said, keeping her gaze  
low. "But I'm sure as hell the enemy of YOU!" With that she  
stretched out her arm. "FIIIIREBALL!"  
  
The fight was predictably short and was all that could be  
expected. Namely, that when confronted with a sorceress of  
ridiculous power like Lina, they were lucky to survive at all. I  
nudged Hotaru and slightly changed my costume. We wanted to  
look like obsessed fans for this, not long lost twins. "Me Ranko.  
You Jain." I said, smiling.  
  
Hotaru stopped and rested a finger on her chin. "I don't like  
that name. How about..." she trailed off, thinking. "Sharra!"  
  
"Sharra?" I asked flatly.  
  
"Well, it was my name back in the Silver Millenium. So why not  
use it?" she answered. I shrugged and wove my way through  
the crowd of onlookers. Hotaru started subtly changing her  
own costume in a move away from Amelia's style (and with an  
eye toward less kawaii overkill). Lina Inverse was currently  
wiping her hands and smiling nastily as she walked away from  
the still smoking bandits. The inn ownder was nowhere in sight.  
He must have had an attack of brains and decided he needed to  
be somewhere. Anywhere. Preferably away from Lina.  
  
I poked the smiling sorceress. "Yeah, whaaaaa-?" she said as  
she turned around. She looked me up and down for a few  
seconds in confusion. "Did Mom have another GAAAH..." she  
said, now noticing Hotaru. She then fainted.  
  
I looked over at Hotaru. "I think the idea of two Amelias was  
too much for her." We heard a few another thud behind us and  
a large crash. Gourry and Zelgadis were both lying face down  
on the ground too.  
  
"Mr Gourry? Mr Zelgadis?" Amelia asked worriedly. She then  
noticed Lina was out. "MISS LINA!" she said, running over to  
the prone sorceress. Lina regained just enough consciousness to  
see Amelia and Hotaru again, and passed out again.  
  
"I think the concept of two Amelias is a little too much for  
Lina." I looked at the two other prone victims. "Or anyone, for  
that matter. Let's help them to their room." We quickly got up  
and dragged Lina's friends up the stairs, following Amelia.  
  
  
  
In the Slayer's room we finally got a chance to talk to Amelia.  
Interestingly, she wasn't fazed by our resemblence to Lina or  
herself. "Wow! You two are Lina and I's biggest fans? And the  
only people I thought were after us were angry bandits,  
townspeople and my older sister!"  
  
"Yeah!" I said, wearing a mask of false cheerfulness. "There's a  
whole town of people after us too!"  
  
"Wow!" Amelia jumped onto a chair and assumed a suitably  
dramatic pose. "Did you exchange brave words of how you  
fought for justice and smite your foes?"  
  
"Yeah, sort of." I said, thinking of the Senshi. "Mostly they're  
after us for things we didn't do (yet) and stuff.. you know what  
it's like."  
  
"Yeah! Usually they're after us... well, usually they're after  
Miss Lina for blowing up something, or setting things on fire, or  
causing a famine, or... er.. come to think of it, why haven't I  
shown Miss Lina the power of Justice!" Amelia stood over the  
still-comatose Lina Inverse and dramatically pointed at her.  
"Miss Lina! For your repeated crimes against justice, I demand  
redress! You will -OW!" Amelia said, having been slapped.  
  
"I save the world on a monthly basis. Cut me some slack." Lina  
said, shaking her hand. She then noticed me. "ARRGH! It's a  
clone!"  
  
Annoyed, I kicked a convenient pail of water on Lina. "Who's a  
clone?"  
  
"GAH! What did you do THAT for?" Lina fumed.  
  
"Somehow that sounds familiar." Hoataru whispered giggling.  
  
"Don't mock the mazoku." I whispered back, wagging my  
finger. Lina grabbed it and pulled me over hard.  
  
"I'm waiting for an apology. You can provide it promptly or  
posthumously." she said, showing the fireball in her other hand.  
Fortunately, I remembered how I was supposed to be acting  
before I told her where she could stick that fireball. My face  
went from annoyed to starstruck in a flash.  
  
"It's LINA INVERSE!" I said, putting my hands together and  
batting my eyes: kawaii factor 4. Hotaru matched my rapt  
expression and cuteness-overload as fast as she could. "I'd  
never think I would have gotten to meet you! I mean, you're  
always on these great quests to save the world and everything!  
Aren't you the most talented and beautiful sorceress in the  
whole world?" I continued, laying it on thick.  
  
"Yeah! I heard you killed a piece of Shabranigdo! And that you  
killed Phibrizzo, the Hellmaster!" I shot Hotaru a dirty look for  
a second. "And you can call upon the power of the Golden  
Lord of Nightmares!" Lina beamed with pride, a huge smile  
lighting up her face.  
  
"Yeah, that's me all right." she said, ego continuing to inflate.  
She then looked at me for a second. "Oh, apology accepted."  
she said offhandedly. She then sat down on the edge of the bed,.  
Gourry and Zelgadis, who had been wakened by all the noise,  
flanked her. "we're always happy to talk to fans of.. oh, Amelia,  
grow up." Said princess had been sniffling and giving Lina dirty  
stares after she got slapped.  
  
"You hit me, Miss Lina!" Amelia complained. I cringed for a  
second, noticing Hotaru doing the same. Now that we were  
actually paying attention to it, we could feel the anger rolling  
off of the young princess. Except it was still tinged with that  
nauseating sweetness. At least a spoonful of anger made the  
sugar go down easier.  
  
"Stuff it, Amelia." Lina turned back to us, a happy smile  
adorning her face. "So, what brings you to this corner of the  
world?"  
  
"We're on a quest for a legendary sword!" I exclaimed. Hotaru  
gave me a fishy look out of the corner of her eye, as if  
wondering if I had lost my mind by telling them the truth. I had  
to have a talk with that girl - the truth is always the greatest lie  
of them all, since it can't be ddisproven. "It's.. ooooh, the  
Sword of Light!" I bounced over to Gourry. "Can I see? Can I  
see?"  
  
Gourry, the quintessential dumb swordsman, scratched his head.  
"No, miss, heh, I don't let redheaded sorceresses get their hands  
on my sword. So, um, no." I sighed.  
  
"Come on, Gourry, it's not like they can just walk out of here  
or something!" Lina said. "They can look at it." Gourry held his  
sword protectively. I sighed. He was so stupid, he'd have to be  
smarter to be able to be fooled here. Well, there was always the  
Umi-Sen-Ken. I shook my head when I noticed Lina returning  
her attention to me. "Hey, what's your name, anyhow?" I  
opened my mouth, then remembered my alias.  
  
"I'm Ranko. My family lived out in the Desert of Destruction."  
Hotaru and I had made our plans for where we would be from.  
Nothing that could be easily disproven. Heck, I'd even altered  
my appearance to include a tan. "I got curious about the outside  
world and left. I ran into Sharra here in southern Elmekia."  
  
"Elmekia! Wow! Gourry's from there! Hey, what's your last  
name - maybe Gourry's heard of them before." Lina asked,  
turning to Hotaru.  
  
Sweating, Hotaru answered with the first thing that leapt to  
mind. "Er... I'm Sherra Saturn!" she said enthusiatically, trying  
to cover her nervousness. I rolled my eyes. What a lame name.  
At least there's no planet named Saturn here.  
  
"Gourry, you remember any Saturns back in Elmekia?" Lina  
asked Gourry.  
  
Gourry scratched his head. "Um.. no?" Lina sighed in  
resignation.  
  
"Stupid Jellyfish brains... I should have expected that." Lina  
turned back to us, having dropped the swordsman from her  
thoughts. I could now see why L-sama took such an interest in  
this human. She burned bright and with a storm of chaos in her  
soul. She jumped from one thing to the other, yet still remained  
focused. A paradox L-sama would treasure. "Do you guys need  
any help with your quest? It's been pretty boring around here."  
I had overheard that there were three separate forest fires  
started by stray fireball barrages, an evil wizard waylaying  
travelers had been killed, and a small crossroads villiage was  
currently a lake after being ground zero for a Dragon Slave. All  
in one week. Boring indeed.  
  
"Not really. I mean, meeting you guys is a bonus, but we want  
to do this one on our own." I could see that wasn't enough to  
deter Lina, so I continued. "My magic is strong enough. Think  
about the Desert of Destruction and the kind of magic you'd  
need just to survive there. My father and his friends are  
powerful mages, and I'm continuing in the family tradition."  
  
"OK, if you say so." Lina said, still not sounding convinced but  
willing to let it go for now. "Nice meeting you two." With that  
we left the still trashed inn and began hiking north.  
  
  
  
"Aren't you going to take the sword from them?" Hotaru asked  
as we headed north. I looked at her incredulously.  
  
"Are you nuts? That girl nuked a piece of Shabranigdo,  
destroyed Rezo the Red Priest - twice, flattens cities for fun and  
profit and most recently channeled the spirit of L-sama herself  
to kill Hellmaster Phibrizzo. I am not mixing it up with her if  
I can make the choice." I assumed a more neutral tone. "Look,  
your friends are a matter of circumstance, your enemies,  
however, are yours to choose. We don't want her as an enemy.  
Our current crop of people out for our blood is problem  
enough, even if they can't actually hurt us. Our strategy must be  
to keep problems seperated so we can tackle them one at a  
time."  
  
Hotaru digested this, then asked another question after a little  
while. "Then what is our goal?" I opened my mouth, then  
closed it.  
  
What WAS my goal? Power was nice and all, and it would  
ensure that I'd never be bossed around like I had for so long. I  
wouldn't be helpless in the face of society with my power. But  
once I was free, what would I do then?  
  
The solution seemed pretty obvious, put that way. The Senshi,  
from all that Hotaru had told me and that I had read in  
Phibrizzo's books, were hellbent on resurrecting some ancient  
monarchy. They'd be after their so called 'good' ideals, but at  
what cost to freedom? Same with the Amazons, always wanting  
to enforce their repression on others, and the Musk...  
  
"We're going to crush everyone. We're going to level the  
playing field. We'll smash the world and spread anarchy. Let  
people do what they want. Absolute freedom. It's what L-sama  
would want." I said. "It's our obligation to spread chaos and  
disorder. I can think of no better way to do this. No one will  
ever step on us again."  
  
Hotaru nodded. "There will be a lot of killing. A lot of death... a  
lot of destruction. People rely on society for a lot of things.  
What we'll do is like yanking the bottom floor off of a  
skyscraper." A ghostly smile crossed her face and sent a shiver  
up my spine. Even now I still shied from the idea of widespread  
strife, but it struck a chord in her. No wonder she was the  
Sneshi of Destruction. "First we'll have to bring the Senshi to  
heel."  
  
"We could present evidence of their plans to the Diet." I  
mulled, "and let them do our dirty work for us. They won't like  
the idea of some cheerleaders with magic taking over the world,  
especially given the proof of their power." I smiled.  
  
"You want to offer the government a counterbalancing force of  
magic?" Hotaru asked, smiling.  
  
"Heck no! I plan to offer a counterbalancing force of magic. I'll  
find the dissatisfied, the angry, the ambitious. Those will be our  
troops. I just want the government to fight the Senshi. After  
everything is done, we'll be in charge by default, by virtue of  
our power." I smiled. I had successfully identified my  
opponent's weaknesses and successfully exploited them outside  
of battle again. I was getting better at this.  
  
"Speaking of the ambitious, what about Nabiki?" Hotaru asked.  
I blinked. "Forgot about her, didn't you?" she said, laughing.  
  
"Yes, I did. Should we check in on her? She should be fine. It's  
only been one day, and it's getting dark. She should last at least  
a few days, anyhow."  
  
"We should. I'm hungry." Hotaru replied.  
  
"Oh, alright. It should be good for a meal. Let's go."  
  
Now, I'm making an announcement. After the first arc of  
Ranmazoku is over, I'm switching off of the first-person  
perspective, because too much is going on with Ranma. I'm  
also going to devote more time to Garden Of Ranma, which is  
currently on the back burner, and start another fic or two also  
as 'pilots' to see if anyone's interested or not. So Ranmazoku  
will be coming out slower. Though fear not, for I shall probably  
speed up again, I think. Right? ::looks at schedule:: Yeah, for a  
while. I really need to get away from this stuff that's eating all  
my time up. I mean, apart from papers and studying. There's  
not much I can do about that. Oh, and work too.  
  
If Hotaru's character is off here, remember she's just been  
turned into a mazoku, is actually strong now and not easily  
winded and sickly, is slightly older looking, and has had her  
Silver Millenium memories returned. And no, she doesn't look  
back with much fondness; Saturn was shunned then too.  
  
Ranmazoku Chapter 7 - No Ordinary Walk In The Woods  
By PansutoTarou5925  
  
DISCLAIMER - I do not own the rights to Slayers nor do I  
own the rights to Ranma ½. Long live the rightful owners of  
these two fine anime. This work is non-commercial and is done  
only in imitation of Rumiko Takahashi and Hajime Kanzaka.  
Imitation is the sincerest flattery, no? US rights owned by Viz  
and Software Sculptors. If I mention the Senshi, Sailor Moon  
belongs to Naoko Takeuchi(Sp, anyone?) and.. and.. I dunno  
who has the US rights, but it's theirs not mine. (I'm drawing a  
blank)  
  
  
  
Author's note - This story originated from an idea on  
Nighthawk's page and is some guy named NesTea's fault. If  
he's reading this, I'm curious to know what he thinks of all this.  
Questioning me would be like questioning Xellos if you ask  
when the next section comes out, because it's a secret.  
  
ALTAVERSE WARNING - This is an ALTAVERSE. Events,  
characters and the like may not resemble canon. People who are  
rabid canon-thumpers beware! (and eat a Dragon Slave while  
you're at it)  
  
PREVIOUSLY - Ranma discovers he's not Genma's son, that  
Xellos is his father, that he's not even human, studies black  
magic under Phibrizzo, yadda yadda yadda, gets in a fight with  
Ryouga and curses a decent sized crowd to act like Kuno. Then  
he corrupts Hotaru into becoming a mazoku and put a world of  
hurt on some poor Daimon and Eudial. Afterwards he spied on  
the Inners, took Nabiki, and got Kasumi angry! Then they went  
to the Slayers world and met Lina and Co under false identities.  
Read the previous chapters, really, I'm not good at rehashing  
stuff.  
  
NOTE - [...] indicates telepathic communication between  
Ranma and Hotaru in the Astral plane.  
  
  
  
The Desert of Destruction was an amzing place. Even the  
Sahara on my home plane isn't as deadly, as forlorn, or as  
unrelentingly inhospitable to life as this endless sea of stark  
white sand. The blasted stones and parched, long dead trees  
that crumbled at a touch provided the only relief to the eyes for  
as far as his magically enhanced senses could reach. Not even  
Hotaru and I were visible to break up the monotony. And this  
was at night, when the overhead canopy of stars, an endless  
dazzling shower of diamonds on a deep black sea known as the  
night, provided something interesting to look at. During the  
day, the monotony was such that it drives lesser people insane.  
  
Imagine spending centuries here, with no one else to talk to, no  
one else to see, nothing to do. Just sitting there, slowly going  
mad in the still desert air. No wonder Phibrizzo went mad.  
  
"I've never seen such beautiful stars." Hotaru said, from beside  
me. Or, of course, you could take life's lemons and make  
lemonade. An astronomer would likely kill to be able to put a  
telescope up here. No clouds, no other people to put up  
annoying lights and buildings... the only negative would be that  
the place was only marginally less of a blast furnace at night  
than it was during the day. I wonder why, really - most deserts  
are cold at night. I should know. That idiot Genma dragged me  
across a few.  
  
"Yeah, it's something, isn't it?" I said noncommitally. I looked  
around and noticed footsteps wandering west. "Looks like  
Nabiki decided to move west in search of water. Don't know  
what she's thinking. She couldn't find water at the ocean. She's  
a city girl, not an adventurous type like me." I shrugged and  
started following the tracks. "Let's take a little stroll through  
the sand, Hotaru. Looks like dinner is on the move."  
  
We found Nabiki on the western side of a sand dune. She had  
tossed a tarp over a pit to rpvide some relief. We could hear her  
panting, It was pretty easy to find her, really; she was absolutely  
swamping the area in hatred and anger. Hotaru poked her still  
invisible head through Nabiki's tent. She quickly grabbed me  
and hauled me back over the dune.  
  
"What the heck?" I blurted, forgetting to remain silent. Why  
had Hotaru pulled me back from the pit? The closer we were,  
the more energy we'd get.  
  
"She's not decent." Hotaru said, blushing. I stopped for a  
second. But only one - I had to retrieve my camera from  
subspace. "Hey!" Hotaru yelled. "What do you think you're  
doing?"  
  
"Getting revenge." I said simply, and walked back over the  
dune. "I'm going to get her back for all the times she's seen me  
naked." I could see Hotaru getting steamed. This was kind of  
funny, actually. What would Hotaru's blunt instrument of  
choice be? "I'll take a few pictures of her sweaty, heaving,  
luscious-" I dodged the sudden swipe of the Silence Glaive.  
Mental note - do not tease Hotaru. "Ack! Hey, lay off!" Hotaru  
ditched the Glaive and tackled me.  
  
"Dammit! Don't be a pervert! What kind of evil demon are  
you?" she growled as she tried to gouge my eyeballs out. She  
worked her leg up and kneed me in the balls, forgetting that  
wouldn't work on a maozku for the moment. Not that it would  
work on me even if I were human for the moment, as I was still  
in my "Ranko the Sorceress" disguise.  
  
"A mazoku!" I said, struggling to keep her from hurting me.  
While she couldn't do much harm with physical attacks, she  
could rip up my disguise some. We both froze when we saw the  
(naked) form of Nabiki crest the dune.  
  
"Who the hell are you perverts?" we heard her say as we phased  
out.  
  
  
  
"It's a good thing she can't see in the dark like we can." I said  
in annoyance to Hotaru as we returned to walking north of the  
town where we had met Lina earlier.  
  
"What on earth is she doing anyhow? Why is she running  
around naked like that?" Hotaru fumed. "What kind of a perv  
did you pick up for your Priest, anyhow?"  
  
"If I wanted a pervert for a lieutenant I'd have gotten  
Happousai!" I thundered. "She probably stripped down because  
it's hot enough to melt lead out there!"  
  
"She was PROBABLY expecting you to drop by to check up  
on her and was planning to seduce you!" Hotaru shot back.  
Why did every girl I ever met seem to get this way? L-sama  
must hate me.  
  
Or, more likely, there was yet another curse attached to me that  
was all Genma's fault. Some sort of "Attract Violent Girls To  
Me" spell. Maybe I could shift it to Happousai or something  
and put it to use.  
  
"Get real, Hotaru. We don't feel those sort of emotions, so why  
would she try?" At least, we shoudln't feel those emotions,  
from what I've read, but Hotaru was acting like Ukyou right  
now.  
  
"I feel those emotions. Or are you insinuating that I'm not  
really a mazoku? Are you?" she yelled, pulling out the Silence  
Glaive again.  
  
"Jeez, Hotaru, calm down. I'm not interested in Nabiki like that.  
She's a snake, a viper. She's a backstabber nonpareil and a  
master manipulator." I said, trying to defuse the situation.  
  
"Yes." Hotaru agreed, then fixed a withering glare on me. "The  
perfect wife for a mazoku!"  
  
I sighed. Obviously, I couldn't win. "Look, Hotaru, I'm not  
interested in Nabiki like - get down!" I said, tackling Hotaru  
and rolling us both into a ditch. The spot where we had been  
standing just a few minutes before was now a crater.  
  
A woman was floating off the ground, a broad sword held in  
one hand resting across her shoulder. "Well, well. If it isn't  
Xellos's kid."  
  
"Who the hell are you?" I said, brushing myself off.  
  
"I'm Sherra. And you, my young friend, will never become one  
of the Lords of the Mazoku." the woman said, materializing a  
powerful aura of magic that seemed to suck the heat out of the  
ground.  
  
I gulped. This would be ugly.  
  
  
  
Ugly, but not unwinnable. Not if I fought smart, and I'm  
nothing if not a smart fighter. I grinned, calling up the  
confidence I didn't really feel. "Come on, you might be strong,  
but do you really think you can take on two of us at once?" She  
smirked and arched an eyebrow.  
  
"I've killed more people than you've met in your whole life.  
I've killed my fair share of mazoku, too. You two," she said,  
indicating us with her sword. "aren't more than a warm up." I  
nodded, smiling happily, and mentally signaled Hotaru to follow  
my lead. We didn't have a chance unless we ambushed her. Of  
course, as we were already confronting her, this would be a  
little difficult.  
  
But not impossible.  
  
I darted forward, screaming loudly as I brought my power up. I  
pulled forth the magic that was my birthright, and directed into  
my hands, preparing a powerful blow. Sherra settled back on  
her feet and readied her sword, tendrils of magic wrapped  
around it to block my attack. At the last minute, I shifted my  
stance, and fired the blast into the ground.  
  
"GO!" I screamed, teleporting away blindly. As I went I yanked  
the also-teleporting Hotaru along with me, and came out in a  
small clearing. "Again!" I yelled, this time physically dragging  
her along. This time we were on top of a bar. Over and over  
again we teleported, each time to a different place. Finally, I  
stopped, feeling tired. "Good. She can track us. But she wont'  
find us."  
  
Hotaru looked at me funny, so I felt the need to explain, power  
rushing back into me as we stood on top of the local jail. "She  
can follow us. But I hit the same place several times, looping  
around. She can't tell which way we went any more, following  
our magic like that. Which means it'll be a bit before she finds  
us. But before she does, we're putting some distance between  
us."  
  
"If we teleport, she's going to just keep tracking us." Hotaru  
pointed out in a bored tone.  
  
"We're not going to teleport. We're going to use a powerful  
technique - the Saotome Secret technique." I said, smiling.  
  
"And what would that be?"  
  
"We steal those horses and don't use magic."  
  
"Oh.."  
  
  
  
"You realize that that woman is going to catch up to us before  
long. She won't stay fooled forever, and we can't avoid using  
magic forever, too." Hotaru said as we rode, the sun rising to  
the east. The horses, which had originally been tan, sleek  
creatures, were now foaming and ragged. We had ridden  
without regard to their health through the night, and both were  
near death.  
  
"No, but she won't have the advantage of suprise. We've been  
reducing our magic signature and she's trying to track us. We'll  
see her before she sees us, and we aren't out teleporting around  
the world like we were. This time, its us who have the initiative.  
And we're going to use the Glaive to cut her down to  
something more our size."  
  
"That's right, you told me half her power is in that sword."  
  
"Right. When she comes, you're taking that damn thing out of  
the fight. After that.... I don't think she's interested in a fight to  
the death. At least not her death, anyhow. If we give her  
enough of a kick, she'll go away. She wouldn't want to start a  
war with the Metallium family, not if she got that banged up  
trying to off me." I said, giving my horse a kick with the spurs.  
It wanted to slow down, but I wasn't about to let it until I was  
as far as I could get from Sherra. At least my confidence was no  
longer feigned; I was pretty sure about my assessment of the  
situation. We'd beat up Sherra, change Nabs into one of us, get  
the sword, and return to Nerima. I figure Nabiki and Gos can  
keep the wrecking crew occupied while Hotaru and I go after  
the big prize: Jusendo.  
  
Hotaru and I rode in silence for another hour or so, until her  
horse tripped and broke its leg. That kind of ended our pleasant  
little trip. I let my horse go in the valley, while we headed for  
the river. If we were going for speed without magic, it looked  
like I'd have to get wet again.  
  
  
  
"Have you ever used one of these things before?" Hotaru asked,  
looking at the boat we had just lifted. I gave it a once over and  
turned to her.  
  
"Nope. How about you?"  
  
"Me neither. Uhh... isn't this supposed to be extremely  
dangerous and exciting?" she said, looking at the river. It was a  
raging torrent of white, swirling water and big rocks.  
  
"Yes, basically. That's why I figure it should come naturally to  
us -"  
  
"HEY!" a big burly guy yelled, cutting us off. It was the  
woodsman whose boat we had just stolen, waving a big axe.  
Hotaru raised her Glaive to blast him before I yanked it down.  
  
"You wanna bring Sherra on top of us like a ton of bricks?" I  
asked sarcastically. "Get in the boat." Hotaru suicidally dove  
into the boat, which probably would have broken her arm if she  
were human and tried that. I hopped more sanely into the boat.  
The woodsman, apparently not noticing or not caring about the  
swirling waters of death we were in, ran into the water. "Are  
you out of your fucking mind?" I yelled at the guy, He  
immediately lost control and was swept along by the current.  
"What a moron. I thought only Kuno and Ryouga were dumb  
enough to pull stuff like that - OW! What was that for?" I said,  
rubbing my head.  
  
"Stop babbling about the idiot and help me!" Hotaru yelled,  
having smacked me with the Glaive again. She was using it to  
pole off of rocks as we careened wildly down the raging river. I  
grabbed an oar and pushed off of any rocks that came near.  
Occasionally we'd get wedged against something, but hey, ten  
years of martial arts trainging wasn't for nothing. Every time we  
got stuck I managed to pry us loose.  
  
"Give me a place to stand and I can move the world!" I crowed,  
having moved not the boat but the whole damn boulder this last  
time. As we lunged forward again, I looked over the waters.  
"Wonder what happened to that guy. Probably dead by now."  
Suddenly, the boat spun sickeningly and tilted, nearly dumping  
us in the water. Bloodied and soaked, the bedraggled, psychotic  
looking woodsman hauled himself out of the water, axe handle  
clenched between giant, bucky-beaver like teeth. 'No way could  
that guy survive that!' I thought, incredulously.  
  
"Foolish thief! I, Mikhail of Garym, plan on sending you to a  
watery grave." Hotaru and I sweatdropped, which was almost  
disastrous as we slammed against another rock. Seeing as we  
didn't get stuck again, we turned back, to see that Mikhail's  
wounds were gone. Instead, he was frothing and snarling.  
  
"Damn, he's crazier than the Kunos! Kick him overboard,  
quick!" I yelled, fighting to make myself heard over the roaring  
water. As I moved forward, though, a ham-sized fist lashed out  
with an axe at inhuman speed. I ducked, missing a bad haircut  
by inches. Another swing, again lightning fast, and I was nearly  
pitched in the water as the boat lurched again. "Can't we talk  
this out? If we fight here, you're going to die even if you win."  
And with the boat lurching too much for me to keep balance  
while dodging, not to mention me unable to use magic to heal  
or else Sherra would come, that was a better bet than I would  
have liked. "Perhaps.." I ducked again, the axe whizzing over  
my head. With perfect timing Hotaru brought the Glaive down  
and sliced through the haft of the axe, sending the head into the  
river. Also with perfect timing, I pushed him just as he was  
taken off balance by the missing weight of the axe. He fell  
down, catching the ropes along the side just before he fell in  
"Good move, now... ah..."  
  
"You think that helps you? I haven't even begun to fight." He  
spit at me. I can't tell if he hit; partially because there was a lot  
more liquid than spittle in the air. But the distinct cracking  
sound he made as he bloated up was the main factor. He  
seemed to just gain weight, bones and skin sickeningly  
rearranging itself, with the side of the boat splintering form the  
strain. Fur burst out of his skin - he had been hairy before, but  
now he was a monster - and his mouth filled with teeth much  
too big for my peace of mind. In a guttural, snarling tone, he  
spoke again: "I'd have rather hacked you up with my axe. But..  
this'll do just fine." The bear Mikhail the woodsman had  
become lunged forward sweeping its two paws forwards,  
hoping to rip me in half with his claws. Deciding that I was  
going to have to abandon my feet, I jumped straight up as the  
boat lurched again. Heedless of my absence the bear continued,  
bulling over Hotaru and slamming into her with such force that  
she went sprawling.  
  
"AHHHHHHH!!!" she screamed, grabbing ahold of the railing  
as she stumbled over the side. She dug in with the Silence  
Glaive, and pulled herself over the side. She came face to face  
with the berserk bear, which lashed out at her with an oversize  
paw. She screamed, having to choose between getting drowned  
or having her face torn off. Granted, both would only be  
temporary, but Sherra would come by to make it permanent if it  
happened...  
  
I fell on the back of the bear, kicking hard into its head and  
turning a blow aimed at Hotaru's head into one aimed at the  
deck. Which meant we were now taking on water, as the bear  
ripped its arm free and a good chunk of the bottom of the boat  
with it. It turned to face me, some of the fury spent. It roared,  
and charged.  
  
Dodging frantically as the water inexplicably calmed, I wound  
my way around the bear, dodging its blows with more ease now  
that I didn't have to worry as much about the bobbing boat. Of  
course, if a bear and two people decide to have a rumble on a  
boat, it's going to rock anyhow, but it wasn't as bad. The bear  
roared even louder. Then I noticed it's mouth wasn't open.  
That was when I saw the waterfall.  
  
"AHHHHHH!!!!"  
  
"ShrriiiiiEEEEEEEK!  
  
"GROAAAAAAAR!"  
  
The three of us fell, free-falling down the side of this majestic  
torrent of clear glacier water. Down below, a nice, sparkling  
pool of water was waiting for us. Right now though...  
  
I wrestled the Glaive away from the screaming Hotaru and  
kicked off the boat, adjusting my fall in mid-flight. It was a  
good thing Hotaru was so terrified that she forgot how to fly;  
we'd be in real sorry shape if Sherra showed up now. Grimly I  
set the Glaive under my arm, twisting to aim it at the heart of  
the bear.  
  
The bear slammed into the water, and I slammed into the bear,  
ramming the Glaive through its chest. The woodsman-turned-  
bear died instantly. Having your chest torn out does that to you.  
Wrenching the Glaive loose from him, I turned and swam  
underwater, looking for Hotaru. She had swallowed some  
water, I could sense, and would need to find her.  
  
I fished her out. She was out cold and not breathing, which was  
normal for a mazoku, but the constant ebb and flow of magic in  
ehr body was slowing. She'd die unless I used magic. Unless...  
  
I had always figured I'd do this first as a guy. Though Mikado  
stole that from me, I figured the first time I voluntarily kissed  
someone I'd be a guy. But there was no question that, unless I  
gave her some of my magic to get her jump started, we would  
both die when she regenerated.  
  
I took a deep breath and opened Hotaru's mouth. I tried not to  
think of her lips; I thought of my own possible imminent death,  
which worked wonders in clearing my mind. I wouldn't think  
about how luscious the lips were, or how soft her face was.  
Nope. Didn't cross my mind.  
  
I breathed a little magic from my throat, just a tiny bit, enough  
to get Hotaru's magic working again. That's when she grabbed  
my head. Hotaru's eyes opened and locked on mine. I quickly  
shook her loose.  
  
"What were you thinking? Can't you swim!" I yelled.  
  
"I was LOOKING for my GLAIVE. Which I see someone has  
stolen!" ,she fired back, immediately getting lost in the fight.  
  
"Stolen? What do you mean, stolen? I had to kill the damn  
werebear, sionce you were more intent on screaming loud  
enough to be heard in Seyruun!" We continued screaming as we  
walked away from the river. The dangerous moment on the  
shore was fast forgotten. I could rest easy, now.  
  
And I'm back form my long vacation. I'll keep writing this and  
the other stories, don't worry! I am most assuredly not dead. I  
did, however, have quite an eventful summer. Multiple  
disasters, a new computer, a pile of new manga, and the normal  
wandering around the nation occupied my time quite fully. And  
now, within a day of ending that adventure, I write a chapter of  
Ranmazoku. Let's hope that's an omen.  
  
Heh, it gets more interesting, no? One of the chief antagonists  
for the next arcs of Ranmazoku puts in her first appearance. If  
you don't know who she is, Ranma will be explaining it to  
Hotaru soon, so just sit tight. If you do know, hey, more power  
to ya. Things will be heating up soon. Ranma's plan is coming  
to a head, and people who can actually hurt Ranma and aren't  
hotheads who just charge in blindly are moving against him  
now.  
  
Also, the whole river scene was basically ad libbed, but it's all  
good, I think. Someone was annoying me on Delphi, and  
somehow it inspired the fight. A bear on a boat in a river, where  
Ranma can't dodge easily or use magic.... heh. Worked well, I  
think. How about you?  
  
If Hotaru's character is off here, remember she's just been  
turned into a mazoku, is actually strong now and not easily  
winded and sickly, is slightly older looking, and has had her  
Silver Millenium memories returned. And no, she doesn't look  
back with much fondness; Saturn was shunned then too.  
  
Ranmazoku Chapter 8 - The Demon Queen Of Furinkan  
By PansutoTarou5925  
  
DISCLAIMER - I do not own the rights to Slayers nor do I  
own the rights to Ranma ½. Long live the rightful owners of  
these two fine anime. This work is non-commercial and is done  
only in imitation of Rumiko Takahashi and Hajime Kanzaka.  
Imitation is the sincerest flattery, no? US rights owned by Viz  
and Software Sculptors. If I mention the Senshi, Sailor Moon  
belongs to Naoko Takeuchi(Sp, anyone?) and.. and.. I dunno  
who has the US rights, but it's theirs not mine. (I'm drawing a  
blank)  
  
  
  
Author's note - This story originated from an idea on  
Nighthawk's page and is some guy named NesTea's fault. If  
he's reading this, I'm curious to know what he thinks of all this.  
Questioning me would be like questioning Xellos if you ask  
when the next section comes out, because it's a secret.  
  
ALTAVERSE WARNING - This is an ALTAVERSE. Events,  
characters and the like may not resemble canon. People who are  
rabid canon-thumpers beware! (and eat a Dragon Slave while  
you're at it)  
  
PREVIOUSLY - Ranma discovers he's not Genma's son, that  
Xellos is his father, that he's not even human, studies black  
magic under Phibrizzo, yadda yadda yadda, gets in a fight with  
Ryouga and curses a decent sized crowd to act like Kuno. Then  
he corrupts Hotaru into becoming a mazoku and put a world of  
hurt on some poor Daimon and Eudial. Afterwards he spied on  
the Inners, took Nabiki, and got Kasumi angry! Then they went  
to the Slayers world and met Lina and Co under false identities.  
Read the previous chapters, really, I'm not good at rehashing  
stuff.  
  
NOTE - [...] indicates telepathic communication between  
Ranma and Hotaru in the Astral plane.  
  
  
  
We had made good time to the north after stealing another pair  
of horses. The north of this world is a beautiful place, cold,  
desolate, and forbidding. The granite peaks hold the dome of  
the sky above their frosty peaks as the pallid sun sets in the  
frosty north, its warmth fizzling in an arctic embrace. No  
wonder this is the land that heros dread, the hunting grounds of  
the Demon King of the North. Beyond it lay only the arctic sea,  
and the kingdom of Dynast. Sherra's home.  
  
I wonder if Dynast knows what Sherra is doing. He's too  
rational and calculating to risk a war over my little ambition. On  
the other hand, Sherra is impetuous and might very well be  
planning to become one of the lords of the Mazoku herself. In  
which case she's being foolish. There's two positions available;  
why risk everything in killing me? Is it because of her old  
problems with Xellos? Some kind of revenge against my father?  
  
I wonder how Nabiki is doing. I can't check in on her because  
of that damn Sherra. Of course, if she dies and I can't get to  
her, she's going to stay dead. I'd like to have some  
reinforcements.  
  
Reinforcements...?  
  
Reinforcements!  
  
"Aha!" I said, thumping my fist into my hand. Hotaru was  
looking over at me, having already sensed my excitement. "I've  
got it. I know how to defeat Sherra - the Saotome Secret  
Technique strikes again!" I laughed, then realized something  
didn't sound right.  
  
"You can't do a proper villainous cackle." Hotaru noted.  
  
I nodded. "You're right, of course. Now, let me explain what I  
have in mind here. Nabiki is in the desert and awaiting death so  
I can turn her into my Priest, right?" Hotaru nodded, frowning a  
little at the thought of Nabiki. Well, perhaps a little rivalry will  
help sharpen those two. "Now, Sherra is looking for two  
mazoku. Two. Not three. Now, I feel fairly certain that you can  
distract her enough during the battle, since you'd have a clear  
field of fire. You drop the power of the Glaive on her head and  
let that keep her occupied for a bit, and I'll get Nabiki  
transformed. Then we'll gang up on Sherra. The three of us  
should be able to cut her down to size."  
  
Hotaru patted her Glaive, smiling sweetly. "I think I can  
manage to worry her a bit." She got a far off look in her eyes  
that was replaced by a hard glint. "No, that won't be very hard  
for me at all."  
  
"Let's go."  
  
  
  
The Desert of Destruction was unbearably bright, even to the  
superhuman senses of the mazoku that normally could handle  
even the most disorienting and painful vistas without  
discomfort. The light didn't just play tricks on your mind, it  
actively deceived it. The perfect place for an ambush. "Nabiki!"  
I yelled, hoping my voice was carrying over the howling wind.  
  
An inhuman figure crawled over a nearby dune. Red, cracked  
skin untouched by sweat, burned raw by sun and sand was  
covered by rags and bits of cloth, most of it having been ripped  
off by its owner in a futile attempt to get cooler. Her eyes were  
glazed by the heat and dehydration. "Ryouga... imagine meeting  
you here..." A sepulchral hiss escaped her; I realized it was a  
laugh, or an attempt at one.  
  
"She's hallucinating." Hotaru said, poking her with the staff.  
  
"'Kane?" Nabiki collapsed, tongue lolling out. "Please...."  
  
"Damn...." I said, looking at her. "How long will she live?" I  
hoped soon; Sherra had to be on the way, if she was looking for  
us at all. "Well, she'll die in the crossfire, if nothing else."  
  
Hotaru scanned the disorienting horizon, nodding again. "Of  
course. We're going to be dropping magic that could flatten  
cities out in this wasteland."  
  
I crouched over Nabiki. "Hey, don't worry. You're going to die  
soon, and everything will be better then. Except for-"  
  
"-SHERRA!" Hotaru yelled, and blasted her with a Silence  
Glaive suprise. Good reflexes on that girl, severed Sherra's arm.  
Of course, it regenerated, but hey...  
  
I scooted over and grabbed the sword as the fight between  
Hotaru and Sherra intensified. She was being pretty arrogant,  
leaving the sword, but she probably thought she could kill  
Hotaru without it if I wasn't helping. Trouble was, she was  
right.  
  
I took a look at the combat as I crawled back to Nabiki, still not  
using any magic and supressing my ki. I didn't want Sherra to  
get a whiff of my position. Once I was about ten feet from  
Nabiki I watched the fight. [Hotaru! Come around halfway  
towards me!] I said, tapping into our mental link. Hotaru didn't  
respond, but the next time she teleported she popped up where  
I wanted her to. [Stick and fight! When she readies a magical  
blast... jump now!]  
  
The beam of energy, one of several Sherra had been carving up  
the sand dunes with, neatly bisected Nabiki's head. It wasn a  
stronger enemy - not my fault - I kept my end of our bargain.  
Hoping I wouldn't spend too long, I dove for her corpse.  
  
  
  
"NABIKI!" I screamed, my voice whipping into the howling  
mass of shadow that was Nabiki's quickly fading mind. A few  
half-coherent tendrils of thought wandered up to me. "Good,  
you're not quite gone. Hang on." I hadn't ever done this, hadn't  
even read much about the process - all I knew was it was  
something as natural to a mazoku as breathing.  
  
Even as Nabiki's mind got blacker, fading into death, I felt her  
firming back up again, a new power flooding into her. It was a  
power familiar to any mazoku.  
  
Hate.  
  
Fear.  
  
Pain.  
  
Rage.  
  
"'The dark side of the Force they are!'" I grumbled, the line  
form the old movie coming back to me. "Thanks, but one old  
troll is enough." I took the dark power, the chaotic, angry  
thoughts, and started forming her into another wonderful  
mazoku.  
  
  
  
I turned my attention to the fight as I finished up my part of  
transforming Nabiki. The former Ice Queen now had bolts of  
black and purple lightning racing across her body, wracking it in  
hideous convulsions. At this point, she'd finish her  
transformation on her own. Hoatru was taking a pounding now,  
as Sherra had finally started to use superior power to take the  
upper hand in their slugfest. Sherra was strong, stronger than  
either of us, even stronger than both of us - possibly even  
stronger than the three of us, whenever Nabiki joined - but  
merely being outgunned hadn't fazed me before.  
  
I smiled. There's a lot one can do with skill. Especially if you  
happen to be me. I took a fraction of a second to analyze the  
fight.  
  
Sherra was pumping out a tremendous amount of energy. If I  
thought I could draw her in a spiral I would, but Sherra's style  
didn't lend itself to that. She was soundly pounding Hotaru  
now, who had transformed out of that silly Amelia getup and  
into the "Dark Senshi" uniform she favored for a fight. Hotaru  
was leaking energy from at least a dozen cuts. Scratch the  
Hiryuu Shoten Ha, it would get her, too. I didn't have access to  
emoptions that wouldn't merely heal her if used in a ki blast,  
and she would see me coming with any direct physical attack,  
even with the heat rising off the sand and playing havoc with  
our vision.  
  
The heat...  
  
Time sped up for me again as I burst into a magically enhanced  
run. Sherra immediately spied me and kept one eye on me as I  
screamed in, rapidly pinwheeling towards the fight. At the last  
minute, I dove - not into Sherra, who was ready, but into  
Hotaru, pushing her out of the fight - and summoned a magical  
heat, powerful and more intense than a blast furnace, for a  
second. Cold might be needed in a Hiyruu Shoten Ha, but that  
was auras, not weather. The sudden burst of heat caught and  
lifted the spinning hot air, along with a lot of sand, and threw us  
into the ground.  
  
Down below, Hotaru crashed into a dune and lay panting, using  
her healing abilities to recover her strength.  
  
"Let's see how well you fight in the air, hothead." I yelled, my  
voice swept away by the wind. In reply, she popped a pair of  
wings free. I just smiled. A true master of midair combat didn't  
need wings to fight in the sky.  
  
...especially not if he had magic.  
  
With a shout I fired a powerful blast of magic, as fast and  
strong as I could make it, straight behind me, sending me  
rocketing towards Sherra at dizzying speed. "Shooting Star  
Kick!" I screamed, finally back in my element - a furious martial  
arts battle. Sherra, unprepared for my burst of speed, got  
smashed out of the whirlwind. Angling slightly to change my  
own exit vector, I grabbed onto her.  
  
"Hentai!" she screamed. I instinctively let go, and she kneed me  
in the stomach. "Hehufff...." she said, as I grabbed her leg and  
used it to launch my own punch into her chest. I popped a set of  
nasty talons out of my fingertips and grinned savagely.  
  
"KATCHUTENSHINAMAGURIKEN" I screamed hurriedly,  
not wanting to give her a chance to counterattack. Though it  
was awkward doing it one handed, I quickly turned her chest  
into shredded ruin of dark power. "That was for beating up  
Hotaru. This," I added, "is for kicking me." I grew a set of  
talons on my other hand and dug them in.  
  
"AHHHH!!!" she screamed, then backhanded me with an  
intense pulse of power, incidentally ripping up her leg more as I  
was ripped off of her. I tucked, rolled, and landed relatively  
unharmed.  
  
Sherra ignored me and concentrated on her injuries. "You little  
bastard, you're going to pay for this." she whispered. She lit up  
with her own battle aura and pulled out a knife. "Die, Ranma!"  
  
I was distracted from the pleasant nostalgic feeling by a shout  
from Hotaru. "SILENCE GLAIVE.. SUPRISE!" A thunderous  
silence came into effect and blew away, as several acres of  
desert suddenly Ceased To Be. Sherra, however, was still  
standing, surrounded by black mist that must have been the part  
of her body that was blasted off. She looked like some character  
in a fantasy anime after a fireball.  
  
"Yuk it up, kid." she growled, and teleported. This time,  
without the familiar advantage of midair, Sherra was proving  
that a few thousand years of trial and error in fights, not to  
mention a ton of power, easily made up for my martial arts  
training. She blocked most of my shots and ignored the rest; she  
didn't have convenient pressure points to press; she didn't tire,  
and in terms of sheer stamina she made Ryouga look like a  
ninety pound weakling. Plus, the close in fight we were doing  
wasn't really suited to help from Saturn; that Glaive was a little  
clumsy and her magical attacks weren't exactly picky about  
who they flattened.  
  
All that was negated when a sudden weight threw us both to the  
ground and a sharp pointy blade was rammed through Sherra's  
chest and about two inches of mine. Sherra turned around and  
looked her assailant in the eye.  
  
"Who the hell are you?" she growled, then punched her  
assailant off. It was Nabiki, but it was hard to tell that. Her skin  
had gone pale as fresh snow, and her hair was a truly disturbing  
orange. She also had picked up a few inches in height and a set  
of wicked hooked claws. 'Must be her mazoku form' I thought,  
grabbing the distracted Sherra before she got back to pounding  
me. I held her head tight in a headlock, and extended my power  
across the Astral plane, in a complex magical hold to prevent  
her from teleporting or changing shape. She stopped moving  
physically and lashed out on the Astral plane.  
  
I screamed, my mind on fire, energy ripping away and streaming  
into the sky like so much steam. Sherra had stopped being  
stupid and fought me on her very best battleground. I felt my  
fingers slip loose, my power beginning to break up. There was  
no way I could hold off this assault myself.  
  
"DIE!" The scream was Nabiki's, the sword was Sherra's, and  
with Sherra so concentrating on destroying me in the Astral,  
Nabiki nearly chopped her material form in two. Sherra  
screamed and fell to the ground, most of the left side of her  
body bursting into eldritch flames. A small lizard touched by  
them grew three feet and was suddenly covered in drying blood.  
Nabiki stood triumphantly with her sword on her shoulder. I  
don't think she realized her gloating pose had been stolen from  
Kuno.  
  
Hotaru walked over and kicked Sherra, who we happily  
stomped for awhile. She wouldn't be any threat to her.  
  
  
"I've fulfilled my promise to you, Nabiki. You're immortal.  
You've got power beyond your wildest dreams." I said.  
  
Nabiki twitched. She still hadn't gotten the hang of changing  
her appearance, and her hair was a bit off. "Yes, and I report to  
you." she said flatly.  
  
"Yes, and I report to no one. I don't like being oppressed by  
others, and I'm not about to start causing trouble for my own  
followers. Now," I said, waving my finger " you can do pretty  
much anything you want to. Terrorize the local Yakuza, corrupt  
politicians with the promise of magical power, etcetera,  
etcetera. All I want is that you also keep me informed of what's  
going on in the big wide world and sometimes do a few, small  
errands for me."  
  
"Like saving your butt from that demon woman?" she remarked  
snidely.  
  
I brushed that off. "That's a one-time thing. I don't expect you  
to become a front line fighter. Though you could easily beat up  
on the merely human martial artists now. Oh, and we'll need  
you to come with us on our nightly tours of Juuban. Need to  
keep the Senshi guessing." I sat down and rested my head on  
my fist, thinking. "Now, what I'd like you to do now is go back  
and get Gos. Have him keep an eye on your sister and her  
friends, amke sure they don't get themselves hurt. You go over  
to Juuban once you figure out how to perfect changing form  
and fill in for us "Dark Senshi" until we return."  
  
"You want me to go around beating up some sentai team in  
short skirts?" she asked, suprised.  
  
I slashed my hand to indicate no. "I want you to destroy those  
Daimon things and drain their power." Every one she got would  
increase my power even more. That was the benefit of having  
subservient mazoku under you. It's a kind of multilevel  
marketing of evil. "Oh, and beat up the loser in the cape with  
the roses. He reminds me too much of Kuno."  
  
"Can I find out their secret identities and sell them to the  
highest bidder?" she asked, smiling.  
  
"Go for it." Nabiki got up and stood still, with a look of intense  
concentration. Nothing happened. "What are you doing?"  
  
"How do I go home?" she asked. I sighed. A portal of energy  
opened and showed the inside of Kasumi's room. Hotaru was  
smirking off to the side.  
  
"It's really easy once you know how." she said  
condescendingly. Nabiki fumed for a second, then carefully  
schooled her features and walked through.  
  
"You do realize you've gotten on her bad side, don't you?" I  
said, trying to keep a grin off my face. Hotaru nodded happily.  
  
  
  
"So why are you letting her go wander off by herself? It isn't  
like she's the most loyal person on Earth." Hotaru said. It's  
true. Loyalty is as much a part of Hotaru's being as that Glaive,  
and furthermore, I had saved her from being used as a magical  
attack dog - feared, powerful, never trusted fully - by the  
Senshi. Nabiki was an accomplished backstabber and certainly  
owed me no debt of comparable gratitude.  
  
I sat on a rock, taking in the scenery. After beating Sherra  
senseless, and after sending Nabiki home, we no longer needed  
to hide from magical eyes. So we teleported right to the  
mountains where my prize was waiting. It was a view normal  
humans don't often see. The mountains, after all, are the home  
turf of more mazoku than you can imagine. Fortunately, none of  
them seemed to be willing to tangle with a Metallium. "The  
answer to that is pretty simple." I said, having finished looking  
at the mountains. "I want her to get a taste of power. Once  
someone like that gets a little taste of power, they can't possibly  
go without tasting it again. It's like a drug; they need a bigger  
taste every time."  
  
"So you want Nabiki to go kill a few Daimons and yank the  
Senshi's chains... to just get her addicted to power?" Hotaru  
said incredulously. "I don't think you needed to go to all that  
trouble, Ranma. Personally, I'd have simply picked some other  
person."  
  
"She's a backstabber, liar, shameless hustler, and experienced  
spy. She doesn't need power for what I'm using her for, and I  
didn't give it to her. She's much less powerful than you." I  
smirked. "If it weren't for that sword Sherra donated, I don't  
think I'd even send her against the Senshi." I got up. "Come on.  
It's getting late, and that place I'm looking for is near here."  
  
"What are we looking for? You've never explained that to me."  
Hotaru asked as we continued or trip through the mountains.  
Navigating the rocky hillsides is far easier when you can fly. We  
lazily weaved through the mountains.  
  
"We're looking for that." Cleverly carved into the side of a cliff  
- cleverly because it was made so as to be invisible from below -  
lay a small fortress. It was well worn and hunched on its hilltop  
as if it were deathly afraid of the mazoku who prowled the area.  
Not that it should have, for even I had only found it by  
following Hellmaster's specific written instructions.  
  
We landed by the rusted, iron door and opened it. Nothing was  
moving, and rank, stale air flowed out. It probably hadn't  
moved since the War of the Monster's Fall, as the dragons  
reckoned it. We walked in - who needs lights when you can see  
in the dark - and down the main hall. "Turn left." I said,  
remembering Phibrizzo's description. He had never found the  
time to go up here, and had no use for the blade - but I did. It  
functioned as a black magic lens.  
  
The kind of lens I'd need to drain Jusendo dry.  
  
I came to the door I sought and tried to open it. No luck.  
Apparently, it had been locked, as if that were a problem. I  
smashed it with a punch, stepped over the debris and lit a torch.  
True, it was completely unnecessary, but it fit the mood. Inside  
there were scattered coins, a rusted set of armor with a skeleton  
inside, and lots of discarded weapons. There was even a statue  
of some old knight posing triumphantly with a sword. "Keep  
your eyes open. The sword we want should have a distinct  
reaction to mazoku." What the reaction was Phibrizzo wasn't  
clear on, but it was bound to be noticable. We stepped in the  
room and started picking up swords at random.  
  
A loud buzzing filled the room, coming from nowhere in  
particular. "What the heck is that?" Hotaru asked, throwing a  
broadsword over her shoulder.  
  
"Probably what we're looking for." I answered. I walked over  
to the skeleton and pulled out its sword. Nope, no luck. I  
moved again and the buzzing increased in strength. Hotaru and  
I both froze. We nervously looked around. Then Hotaru  
gasped.  
  
"Ranma... look at the statue." The stone sword the statue was  
holding was buzzing.  
  
That stone thing couldn't be what I was looking for, could it?  
  
I stepped closer to it. An incredibly loud BRRAAAP sound  
came from the stone sword, which then cracked. It shattered at  
my next step, showing a mettalic glint through the shower of  
exploding stone. .  
  
Someone had hidden it inside the statue. How novel.  
  
"The legendary Bras Blade... mine at last." I said, and took  
another step. Now the sword was humming, and a fierce gale  
was blowing out from it now that it was uncovered. Coins and  
small trinkets rolled away from it, and my pigtail flapped wildly  
in the breeze. "Nothing but a little wind! Hah!"  
  
At the next step the wind strengthened and it seemed as if the  
air grew thick with power. No, I realized, the air was always  
thick with power, little bits of the hate and fear that the mazoku  
love as well as other emotions. The sword was just increasing  
the power of the dark forces nearby. I leaned forward and  
started running to the statue.  
  
The power emanating from the sword picked up fiercely. I dove  
and dug into the ground, having formed the talons I had ripped  
Sherra with earlier to keep a grip on the ground. The force from  
the sword was strong enough that it was beginning to  
destabilize me. My mouth lunged out for a second into a wolf's  
muzzle before I could get it under control.  
  
I climbed up the statue, dimly aware of Hotaru thrown against  
the far wall, cracking it in the force of her impact. I began to  
lose cohesion, lose form, as I reached for the sword.  
  
"RANMA! NO!" Hotaru screamed, overcoming the sound of  
sword and wind with her panic. "IT'LL KILL YOU! GET  
BACK!"  
  
I ignored her, concentrated on the humming slim blade of death.  
The hilt had worn away the statue's hand with it's vibrations; it  
was almost in my grasp.  
  
I reached out and touched it.  
  
  
  
Hotaru screamed. He had been there, and now he wasn't.  
Ranma was gone. The sword was gone. What would she do  
now?  
  
What could she do?  
  
Well, that's a nice cliffhanger, no? From here on out we're  
going to see shifts from first to third person point of view from  
time to time, as the world is getting a bit to complex for just  
one viewpoint. Besides, Ranma has mysteriously disappeared.  
How do you do a first-person without the person?  
  
You like? I'm still on a roll. I have tomorrow off from my  
writing duties, though. After all, I have the fourth to celebrate. I  
might write if I have the time, but probably not.  
  
If Hotaru's character is off here, remember she's just been  
turned into a mazoku, is actually strong now and not easily  
winded and sickly, is slightly older looking, and has had her  
Silver Millenium memories returned. And no, she doesn't look  
back with much fondness; Saturn was shunned then too.  
  
He was gone.  
  
Even the subtle link that every mazoku had to their superiors  
had gone silent. As Hotaru sat in shocked silence in the ruins of  
the ancient vault, her world shattered.  
  
She was alone again.  
  
A trembling hand reached out for the Silence Glaive.  
  
Ranma, her only friend, had been taken from her. People would  
pay.  
  
She didn't much care who.  
  
  
Ranmazoku Chapter 9a - The World Without Ranma  
By PansutoTarou5925  
  
DISCLAIMER - I do not own the rights to Slayers nor do I  
own the rights to Ranma ½. Long live the rightful owners of  
these two fine anime. This work is non-commercial and is done  
only in imitation of Rumiko Takahashi and Hajime Kanzaka.  
Imitation is the sincerest flattery, no? US rights owned by Viz  
and Software Sculptors. If I mention the Senshi, Sailor Moon  
belongs to Naoko Takeuchi(Sp, anyone?) and.. and.. I dunno  
who has the US rights, but it's theirs not mine. (I'm drawing a  
blank)  
  
  
  
Author's note - This story originated from an idea on  
Nighthawk's page and is some guy named NesTea's fault. If  
he's reading this, I'm curious to know what he thinks of all this.  
Questioning me would be like questioning Xellos if you ask  
when the next section comes out, because it's a secret.  
  
ALTAVERSE WARNING - This is an ALTAVERSE. Events,  
characters and the like may not resemble canon. People who are  
rabid canon-thumpers beware! (and eat a Dragon Slave while  
you're at it)  
  
PREVIOUSLY - Ranma discovers he's not Genma's son, that  
Xellos is his father, that he's not even human, studies black  
magic under Phibrizzo, yadda yadda yadda, gets in a fight with  
Ryouga and curses a decent sized crowd to act like Kuno. Then  
he corrupts Hotaru into becoming a mazoku and put a world of  
hurt on some poor Daimon and Eudial. Afterwards he spied on  
the Inners, took Nabiki, and got Kasumi angry! Then they went  
to the Slayers world and met Lina and Co under false identities.  
After that they duked it out with Sherra and Ranma vanished  
after touching a magic sword. Read the previous chapters,  
really, I'm not good at rehashing stuff.  
  
NOTE - [...] indicates telepathic communication between  
Ranma and Hotaru in the Astral plane.  
  
  
  
"So Lina, what do you think will happen now?" Amelia asked.  
The adventurers - minus Xellos - were gathered at a tavern and  
devouring all the food in the place. Lina had been worried, and  
they wanted to hear why.  
  
"It's the mazoku." Lina said, after taking a gulp of her wine.  
"They've never had such a big shock to their order before. Two  
Mazoku Lords dead, plus their subordinates... there are even  
rumors of an attack on Sherra."  
  
"Who's Sherra?" Gourry asked.  
  
Lina brushed off Gourry's question. "Oh, just one of Dynast's  
lieutenants. And that's just a rumor. But a lot of mazoku are  
dead, and there's likely to be a lot of random violence as a  
result."  
  
"Why?" Amelia asked. "Shouldn't they be happy they've got  
promotions? They're conniving monsters, after all..."  
  
Lina finished off her third cup of wine of the evening and  
looked Amelia in the eye. "Just because they're monsters  
doesn't mean they don't have friends." She paused. "I  
remember hearing tales of what happened when Gaav was  
thought dead the first time, a thousand years ago. It was a  
month of terror after that. I heard..."  
  
  
  
Hotaru phased back to Nerima. Her face, normally beautiful  
with a hint of evil, now fairly radiated malignance. Her hands  
wrapped tightly around the Silence Glaive. Today was the first  
time she had ever used her true mazoku form.  
  
It was a terrifying sight.  
  
Still largely human, the Senshi of Death had gained another foot  
in height, until she towered over most of the people in the  
street. Her dark "senshi" outfit, already armored and spiked,  
unlike the prissy little outfits the hated other senshi wore, was  
now ever darker and longer, seeming to drink up the light. Her  
hair cascaded down in wild, uncontrolled stream. Lastly there  
were the wings - two pairs of black leathery wings, slim and  
terrifying.  
  
Hotaru's sudden appearance sent most of the people scattering  
for cover. Those who hadn't had fainted.  
  
She breathed crazily, hyperventilating, even though she did not  
need to breathe. Perhaps it was just some shadow of past  
humanity rising up within. She snapped the Silence Glaive  
above her head. "Brass Demons, come to me!" she screamed,  
forming a troop of the disgusting creatures. "A wolf, from the  
dark mists of Wolf Pack Island." And another shape rose from  
the shadows, a large wolf, huge and shaggy. Hotaru jumped on  
top of it. "Come! Come!" She rode off towards the house  
where her 'father' and his terrible assistants lived. They would  
be the first to feel her wrath. She had a special spell in mind for  
them.  
  
  
  
"Aww, Rei, are you sure it's this way? Ami says that the bad  
guys are everywhere." Usagi whined as the Senshi darted  
through the streets. She wasn't too happy about having multiple  
daimons or whatever burning down different parts of the city,  
but ever since seeing those Dark Senshi it was something they  
had worried about. Especially after fighting that crazed wolf  
thing. Ami's readings said it was related to those Dark Senshi  
somehow. If that was their version of a Daimon, she wanted no  
part of it.  
  
"Usagi's right." Ami said, looking at her computer and running  
blind. "They are everywhere. How can we know that it's the  
right spot?"  
  
"Yeah, there hasn't been anything destructive over there yet,  
just a lot of-" Whatever Makoto was going to say was  
interrupted by a blinding flash of light and then a thunderous  
explosion. The Senshi screamed as they were blown over a  
parked car and rolled like tumbleweed in the street.  
  
"Does that count?" Rei snarled, coughing. Then she caught a  
good look at Ground Zero. "What the hell was that?" Much of  
the neighborhood was in a burning ruin. Granted, they had been  
fairly close, but still...  
  
Ami put out what fires she could with the Mercury Bubble  
Blast, but they were forced to let most of the area burn in order  
to deal with the real threat. Let the normal heros, the  
firefighters and the police, handle this mess. "I don't really want  
to fight someone who throws explosions like that around.  
Moon, are you sure your magic is on the fritz?" Ever since that  
incident with the fierce wolf thing that attacked the shrine,  
Usagi's spells had been throwing lightning and such instead of  
her normal Sailor Moon attacks. It was almost like she was  
flinging around Makoto's magic instead of her own.  
  
"We've got to fight it. No one else can!" Usagi said. They  
penetrated the inner layer of smoke to find...  
  
... one of the Dark Senshi taking on the Witches Five  
singlehandedly. And winning.  
  
  
  
Nabiki had popped back into existence in her sister's room,  
snuck out to meet with Gosunkugi, and terrorized the Spineless  
One by threatening to toss him in the Spring of Drowned Kuno,  
which currently was being covered in concrete. The fact that  
she thought that a dip in the pond would have improved him  
notwithstanding, she felt Gosunkugi would do fine for what she  
intended. Odd though, that buzzing feeling she got after being  
transformed by Ranma was gone. Maybe she was getting used  
to this form. Nabiki idly threw a mailbox fifty yards. She'd  
really have to thank Ranma for this body; it really was invincible  
- she'd even jumped in front of a truck at one point. Maybe she  
should beat up Kodachi for kicks. Nahh....  
  
Besides, she had to go see her sister and make sure she knew  
she was OK. She had the perfect alibi for what happened to her.  
Well, not quite perfect, but close enough.  
  
Just before she entered her house, there was a flash of light. She  
looked towards Juuban before realising it wasn't lightning. Her  
newfound senses screamed to her that it was magical in nature.  
"Odd, I guess those are those lesser magic users Ranma was  
telling me about. He's got an odd scale if he think's that's  
minor, though." She could see the glow from the fires; she  
estimated it at around a city block or so. It would probably  
grow before the firefighters put it out.  
  
"Kasumi, I'm home!" she cried out cheerfully. A nauseating  
wave of relief flowed out in front of her older sister. No wonder  
Ranma acted jumpy around Kasumi. "Hey, hey..." Kasumi  
grabbed her and instantly got a more serious expression.  
  
"What happened? I thought he took you! Where did he take  
you? How did you get back? Are you alright?" she asked,  
rapidly. Nabiki held out her hands to stop her, then gently  
pushed her back. Her sister had asked her a question...  
  
'1000 yen, please." Seeing Kasumi facefault brought a smile to  
her face. "Alright, this time for free. I don't know where he  
brought me-" True "- I just struck out in a random direction  
like Ryouga would - " Utter rot "- and I've never been better."  
Which was more true than Kasumi would ever think. Nabiki  
exulted in power and control, and she had more over her own  
life than she ever did before.  
  
Except that Ranma was her boss.  
  
Ah, well, how much use could Saotome need of a manipulator  
like her anyway? She was still mostly her own boss, and  
immortality made up for a few odd assignments.  
  
  
  
Hotaru dropped the body of Kaolinite, which rapidly turned into  
dust and wafted away on the gusts of the growing firestorm.  
She looked over her shoulder, giving the Senshi a murderous  
glare. A shaky smile spread across her face.  
  
"More meat." She looked at where Mimette was trying to crawl  
away and hide. "Oh no... you're not getting away that easy."  
She teleported over and rammed the Silence Glaive through the  
Witch, spearing her to the ground like a bug on display.  
Holding onto the Glaive with one hand, and sending bolts of  
magical electricity into her captive. Mimette jerked as she was  
fried, Hotaru's power greatly increased beyond anything the  
Witches could match by pure rage. Then Hotaru stopped the  
assault, and she looked death in the face. It was not a pretty  
sight.  
  
Hotaru was standing over her, holding a chunk of concrete in  
one hand and smiling. The Senshi, who had momentarily jolted  
out of their shock and began to prepare for a battle of their  
own, were immediately distracted by the awesomely gruesome  
sight of one of their enemies bludgeoning one of the Witches to  
death.  
  
Sailor Venus quietly wished that the Senshi's outfits didn't  
prevent nausea. She was feeling rather sick right now, and  
throwing up would distract her from... that... eww! Minako  
grabbed Rei and Makoto and pulled them back. "I don't feel so  
good. Could we beat on those things setting fires first?" The  
other Senshi gave each other a few quick looks and decided that  
this fight could wait. Makoto and Minako grabbed Usagi and  
dragged her away before she could draw attention to them.  
Obviously they had intruded upon a private quarrel. Yeah, that  
was it...  
  
The battered form of Mimette faded and vanished, having finally  
exceeded the limits of the abuse it could take. Hotaru dropped  
the stained chunk of rubble and looked after the fleeing Senshi.  
"Hah, don't worry. Your turn in the ring will come soon  
enough." The image of a panda appeared in her head. "I've got  
to avenge the present before I deal with the past, is all." With  
that, Hotaru walked through the burning rubble, the wolf she  
had summoned walking jauntily by her side. She strolled down  
the street, casually moving towards Nerima, twirling the Silence  
Glaive like a baton.  
  
  
  
The insane level of destruction, glow from the burning  
buildings, and general miasma of oppressiveness rolling out of  
Juuban clued the Wrecking Crew to the violence erupting  
across town. Faint sounds of people screaming and sirens  
blaring could be heard.  
  
The deafening blast of a giant explosion woke even Genma up  
and alerted him to the ongoing battle.  
  
Cologne sighed and turned on NHK. Disasters attracted  
reporters like a corpse attracts flies, and this was no different.  
Ugly humanoid demons were tossing squad cars around, looting  
stores, and setting fires. The police and fire departments were  
trying to stop the invaders and the out of control inferno from  
gutting Juuban. Occasionally footage of Senshi blasting the  
creatures would arise. "All right, people, stop it."  
  
Immediately the arguments, eating, drinking, and fighting that  
had been going on between the group ceased. Cologne sighed.  
It was so hard to keep them focused. Herb had left and fetched  
the Kaisfuu in the two days respite they had enjoyed, which had  
taken the tension level down. With the Dragon Prince of the  
Musk just arrived off the bullet train, the group had taken to  
fighting again. It seemed that the unstable mix of violent  
personalities was an unsolvable mess.  
  
"Hibachan, we go, find Ai - Shampoo mean Ranma and  
banish?" her great-granddaughter asked from where she was  
firmly wedged between Ryouga and Lime. Keeping her there  
reduced the chances of the two strongmen getting in a fight.. as  
well as keeping Mousse away.  
  
"We don't even know if this is him, child." Cologne rasped.  
  
"It is the duty of a martial artist to defeat monsters." Soun  
pronounced pompously. Genma nodded, his face in his own  
pose of righteousness.  
  
"Fine. Go ahead, get yourselves killed." Privately Cologne still  
wondered what they were really thinking. The thought  
processes of known morons were so hard to fathom. Near as  
she could tell, the two seemed to think Ranma was possessed.  
Fine, let them have their delusions. Fortunately, they were  
cowards. If she didn't go, neither would they. "I only have the  
one scroll to banish a mazoku. I'm not going to waste it on  
some punk demons." A phone rang.  
  
Mousse quickly pulled a cellphone out of his sleeve. "Hello, this  
is the- Oh. Hi, Kasumi." The room turned to look at Mousse  
expectantly. "She's what? Back- Hey! you old mummy, that's  
my Nokia!"  
  
"I paid for it, Mr. Part. Time!" Cologne said, covering the  
phone with her hand. She then talked to Kasumi herself. "Hello,  
child. Who's back? Nabiki?" Nabiki had been kidnapped by  
Ranma - for what purpose, ancestors alone knew. "How is  
she?"  
  
"She's perfectly healthy." Kasumi said. The faint sounds of  
crashing could be heard through the phone. "She's just  
redecorating a little."  
  
Cologne sighed. Kasumi's oddly oblivious personality never  
ceased to amaze her. "Child, your sister was taken away from  
home by a demon. She vanished for several days, then returns  
and starts remodeling her room. Did she even tell you what  
happened, or did you just assume Ranma took her to the  
movies?"  
  
"Oh, no, she said Ranma left after leaving her in a desert and  
just walked off." Cologne blinked. What could Ranma possibly  
gain from that? Unless...  
  
"Child, is she sunburned?"  
  
"Oh my, Cologne-san, I would have remembered if my own  
sister was sunburned." A second passed. "We're fresh out of  
aloe."  
  
"So she isn't sunburned?"  
  
"No, of course not." Cologne nodded. Nabiki was easy to  
manipulate - she had an inflated opinion of her own  
deviousness. The little things tended to be her undoing, as in  
this case. "So you're out of aloe? I'll be right over."  
  
"Oh, thank you." Cologne hung up. Now what should she do?  
The idea of a powered up Nabiki was mildly disturbing. Any  
mazoku could rip their way through a horde of lesser fighters.  
A decently powered one, like Ranma, could crush this band of  
martial artists like a fly if they were motivated enough. She  
shuddered as she remembered how Herb and his two stooges  
were taken out. That quickly made up her mind. Nabiki was  
going to be a pain, to be sure, but Ranma could make their lives  
very interesting. "We're going to wait."  
  
  
  
Outside the restaurant, Hotaru stopped. She paused, about to  
knock, then thought better of it. She walked around to the back  
of the restaurant and phased through the wall. She figured if she  
could teleport and go Astral, phasing couldn't be too hard. She  
emerged in a storage room. She made a little hole with the tip  
of the Glaive in the wall, and looked in the room. The old fat  
fool, the old thin fool, the Chinese bimbo, the violent bimbo,  
and that girl Ranma considered a friend. Then the ryuuzoku -  
her blood boiled just looking at him - and two friends with odd  
features. Then the old woman.  
  
She smiled.  
  
She wondered if their health insurance was paid up.  
  
  
  
The back wall of the dining room exploded out as a girl in a  
leather outfit walked through it. Her footsteps set the carpet on  
fire, setting a blazing trail behind her. She was holding a solid  
iron staff with a wicked set of blades at the end. There was a  
beatific smile on her face.  
  
"Nice entrance." Cologne said, remaining outwardly calm.  
Inside, she shuddered. She imagined kamikazes had that smile,  
just before their deaths. "Who are you, and what are you doing  
here?" If she wasn't another mazoku, Cologne would let Akane  
cook for the Nekohanten. Three in one week, after one in three  
thousand years...  
  
"I'm Hotaru. As for what I'm doing here," Hotaru said, still  
smiling serenely, "I think you're going to be Suprised."  
  
  
  
The front of Cologne's restaurant exploded, sending the Nerima  
Wrecking Crew flying across the street. Cologne got up and  
coughed. This was not going to be good. This 'Hotaru' started  
the fight by teleporting - Cologne figured that no one, not even  
a mazoku, could move fast enough for her to miss seeing it -  
and slamming the butt end of her glaive into Ryouga's chest.  
Hard. That was why Ryouga was extricating himself from the  
storefront behind Cologne instead of merely being blasted into  
the street. The other fighters, Cologne included, had struck  
quickly at the girl, she herself using a nine-pressure point attack  
that would kill a person instantly. She had simply ignored those  
hits and had kicked Mousse in the crotch hard enough that he  
was lifted off the floor two feet. Apparently Herb was made out  
of sterner stuff than most men, bcause while the other males  
clutched their privates and winced in sympathy, Herb had  
blasted her with some sort of multiple ki-blast attack. The  
mazoku's counterattack was why they were currently in the  
street: a solid black fireball.  
  
Cologne mentally reviewed her options. Using her superior skill  
in physical combat wasn't an option. She could fight rings  
around this mazoku in hand to hand. The problem was, it was  
completely useless in this case. The pressure points and precise,  
deadly strikes to the vital regions were useless against a being  
that had neither. Even if she had all the strength of her younger  
days, she didn't think it would help. Special techniques might  
work. On the other hand, given the magical senses she had  
heard the mazoku possessed, the Splitting Cat's Hairs wouldn't  
work. The Hiryuu Shoten Ha was out, because Ranma might  
have informed this mazoku of it and she wasn't radiating any  
cold ki - or any ki, for that matter - to use against her. Of more  
esoteric techniques, few were likely to be of any use - and the  
rest would be quite limited. Using the scroll seemed to be the  
only option. They'd have to figure out a way to deal with  
Ranma later.  
  
Having analyzed her options in a mere second, Cologne rushed  
forward. Beside her, Lime and that old fat fool Genma were  
flying forwards as well, being the first to recover. "Kijin Raishu  
Dan!" the elder Saotome yelled, snapping his arms back  
suddenly, creating two slicing vacuum blades that flew towards  
Hotaru.  
  
'Interesting trick. I wonder what other moves he has hidden up  
his sleeves?' she wondered. She hadn't expected such a  
powerful move from the elder Saotome. Judging from the  
hairline cut it gave the mazoku, it wasn't expecting it, either.  
Then the cut healed - almost instantly. Cologne gulped. So it  
was not only nigh invulnerable to attack, but regenerated?  
"Ancestors save me." she sighed, as she dodged at the last  
minute and flicked her staff into the ground under the mazoku.  
"Bakusai Tenketsu!"  
  
  
  
Hotaru was lifted off the ground and thrown bodily through the  
air. Instead of just being carried by the explosion, however, she  
flew with it, rising into the air and gaining the height advantage  
over her non-flying adversaries. Below, she saw that guy with  
the tiger stripes hit the old lady instead of her. He had already  
commited himself to the attack without knowing what the  
others would do. That meant they were obviously inexperienced  
in fighting together. She stuck the Glaive into subspace,  
wanting to beat a few people up without its use. She wanted to  
take a few of these people apart by hand. A pair of blasts to the  
back got her attention.  
  
One of the fighters had also flown up. Interesting. Of course, it  
was that halfbreed ryuuzoku Herb. She sneered. "You should  
stay out of someone else's fight. You want to beat up Ranma,  
beat up Ranma." She was planning on killing him for Ranma  
anyhow, now that Ranma was missing, but she wanted to be  
able to beat on the other fools in peace.  
  
"I won't leave. Anytime there is a mazoku fighting, there I must  
be to oppose them." he said, taking a stance.  
  
"Do you have any idea of just how far outclassed you are?"  
Hotaru asked. "No? Allow me to demonstrate the Saturn Star-  
Fist school of martial arts," Hotaru said, decades of training in  
the Silver Millenium being one of the wonderful things that had  
been in her restored memories. Blurring, she shot forward  
through the air, fist and body moving swiftly in a lightning-fast,  
powerful punch. It was a move designed for maximum power  
and speed. Herb jerked out of the way and landed another ki-  
blast on her side. Hotaru's leg whipped out and slammed into  
his ribs though, the follow up attack designed to hit if the first  
strike missed. Herb was launched into a light pole.  
  
Diving at full speed, Hotaru slammed into Herb and through the  
lightpole. She grabbed onto his arm and shoulder and yanked,  
popping it out of his socket with her monstrous strength. She  
kicked him in the head as hard as she could, sending him into  
dreamland, just before she was kicked through the front of a  
noodle shop.  
  
  
  
Nabiki looked at her newly 'redecorated' room. She had torn  
apart all the exercise equipment she didn't need any more,  
thrown it in a big pile in the center of the room, and melted it by  
putting her hand on it and willing it to get very, very hot. The  
resulting mess of metal and plastic, along with the lingering  
smell in the air, would have to be cleaned up eventually, but  
she, Nabiki, would no longer have to do those boring excercises  
to keep her perfect body. Also, she dragged some stuff up from  
the dojo - mostly left behind weapons from Mousse - and threw  
her sword in the mix, figuring it wouldn't look too conspicuous  
there. She left a book on appraising martial arts weapons next  
to the stack as further camouflage. "Perfect." She then waled  
downstairs. "Kasumi! I'm going out for a little while! I'll be  
back for dinner!"  
  
She ran out, in the general direction of Juuban. She'd follow  
those girls around, and discover their secret identities. She  
didn't have to worry about the fires, right?  
  
  
  
Hotaru pulled herself out of the vat of noodles and glared at the  
tiger-striped boy who had kicked her. The glare turned onto a  
smile. Hotaru leapt forward and held out her hand. Five long  
talons appeared where her hands had been, aimed at his face.  
He dodged and threw up his hands, trying to swat her away, but  
the mazoku simply melted through his strikes. Her hands passed  
through his skin, somehow not tearing them - until she tore  
them out.  
  
Lime screamed in pain, with five terrible wounds in his face.  
Hotaru brought her boot down, magically enhancing it so even  
this human tank could feel it, and stomped repeatedly on his  
chest. Her foot lashed out again, this time in a kick, and two  
cracks could be heard, one from Lime's ribs, another from  
Hotaru's foot passing the sound barrier. She picked up the  
screaming Musk warrior and tossed him outside. There, the two  
old fools were trying to sneak away, and Cologne was reading  
from a scroll. A tense, magical power was building up, and the  
remaining four fighters werein front of Cologne, guarding her.  
"You think that will stop me? Your lives are mine to take or  
spare. Ranma was a friend of mine. You didn't spare him, so  
I'm not going to spare you." She simply teleported again, this  
time behind Cologne. The bloody claws flashed out, reducing  
Cologne's scroll to rubble. Cologne turned around, a look of  
dread on her face. Hotaru walked forward, a look of maniac  
glee on her face. "That's why people who use real magic  
memorize their spells, old woman. They don't read them off of  
scrolls that can be burned, torn, or stolen. Here, I'll show you  
some real magic. She snapped her fingers, bringing in a few  
more Brass Demons. "See? Fast, easy - effective. Have fun!"  
Hotaru said, running off in the direction of Genma. 'She  
stopped for a minute and turned back. "And, oh yeah, don't kill  
them. They aren't ready for that yet." She then jumped up and  
flew off, looking for old fat fools or rogue pandas.  
  
Cologne turned to the others. "Get in the store. Lesser demons  
I can handle." However, before they could move, a group of  
figures burst out from a side street.  
  
"Hold, demons!" a blonde girl in a funny hairdo announced.  
"For destroying establishments of eating, places where youung  
gilrs can go on dates with their friends, is a crime that can never  
be forgiven!" Both Cologne and her allies and the demons  
stared at her for a few seconds. Then the fight picked up again.  
  
  
  
Nabiki jumped from rooftop to rooftop, giddy in her newfound  
powers. She ran over to the Nekohanten, with listening devices  
aplenty. Usually she was only able to get people to drop her  
mikes in the eating area. Now she could put them on the second  
floor windows. She was distracted by some noise off to the  
side. "Hey! It's them!" The Sailor Senshi had apparently made a  
detour to Nerima. Strange, they usually weren't outside of  
Juuban. Then again, there were those demon things, and they  
generally weren't found outside of Juuban, either. She noticed  
Cologne and the others. So the demons were attacking some of  
her customers. Well, well. That just wouldn't do. Nabiki  
remembered the crazy outfit that Hotaru had. It was a variation  
of the Senshi's outfits, and those seemed to block recognition  
by other people. Nabiki concentrated for a second, willing her  
clothes to change from her normal clothes into something a  
little more durable and only slightly less decent. She was just  
about to jump down when she remembered something else. "Oh  
yeah, my sword." she said, smacking herself in the face.  
  
Nabiki quickly teleported back with the sword, and took a few  
practice swings. "Those idiots can make speeches and be forced  
to dodge. A quick suprise attack is more my style." Nabiki  
stepped back, then ran to the edge and jumped off.  
"KIIIYAAAAAAAAAH!" she yelled, doing her best imitation  
of a battle-cry.  
  
All combat stopped at the yell/scream coming from the roof. A  
girl in a leather fuku landed near Cologne, a broadsword  
slashing the nearby demon in two. It exploded into harmless  
black mist.The Senshi were the quickest to react to this newest  
threat.  
  
"Another one!" Mars yelled, pointing.  
  
"Jupiter Thunder Crash!" Jupiter immediately said, follwing it  
up. The lightning blasted out, stinging Nabiki's hand.  
  
"Oww! Damn! What the hell was that for?" she yelled,  
switching hands on the sword so she could shake her right hand  
and get some feeling back in it. "I just killed that damn thing -  
UFF!" One of the remaining three Brass Demons had swatted  
her with a telephone pole, sending her throught the wall of the  
much abused noodle shop.  
  
"KIIIIYAAAH!" Ryouga yelled, having finally regained his  
breath from having his ribs cracked by the first Dark Senshi. His  
heavy umbrella screamed through the air at high speed, but was  
stopped with a mighty CRACK as the demon blocked with its  
phone pole. Grunting, Ryouga leaned forward and pushed  
down, a slow ripping sound rising over the rest of the fight as  
he broke the pole  
  
Mousse had chucked maybe a hundred pounds of ironmongery  
and a few hundred yards of rope and chain around one of the  
demons shortly after Nabiki's unexpected entrance had frozen  
everyone - except the one man who couldn't see it. Cologne  
wasted no time in stamping eight characters on the demon with  
the speed of the 'Chestnut Fist'. It too vanished into thin black  
smoke.  
  
The Senshi ganged up on the last one, driving it back with a  
barrage of magic. Jupiter powered up to deliver her second  
blow to the reeling demon when a hand tapped her on the  
shoulder. "Huh?" she said, half turning instinctively.  
  
Nabiki smiled and rammed her sword into Makoto's stomach.  
"Payback's a bitch." She pulled it loose and teleported away  
before the Senshi could blast her. She reappeared by Ryouga  
and slammed the flat of her blade against his opponent's head.  
It dropped to the ground, where Ryouga soon beat it to  
unrecognizeable paste. Nabiki looked back to the scouts, noting  
that they were ready to shoot at her again. She waved, then  
vanished.  
  
On a rooftop not to far away, Nabiki sighed. "So much for my  
secret. Not that I expected it to last that long anyhow... but I  
was hoping to be able to shift all the blame for my  
transformation on Ranma. Now.. where's that Hotaru?" She  
looked around, deciding to run in the direction of the greatest  
carnage.  
  
  
  
Hotaru herself, however, was not causing the destruction. She  
was following two panicky fathers. One, really, but the two  
were old friends and partners in cowardice. She enjoyed the fear  
they radiated most intensely. In fact, she was making a game of  
this. She simply walked behind them - never varying speed,  
never attacking. Just walking calmly and silently. Oh, she had  
muted all the sound around her, but that was just to set the  
correct mood. And if they got too far away in their running, she  
simply waited for them to stop, and then she'd teleport nearby  
and pop out where they least expected.  
  
It was far more fun than simply physically torturing them.  
  
They were currently in a bathouse abandoned because of the  
nearby fight against the demons. That didn't stop her from  
being suprised by a looter, though. A most unusual, small,  
shriveled looter swiping the underwear left by the fleeing  
bathers. He turned and saw the approaching Senshi of Death  
and, ignoring every possible danger sign, fixed his eyes on her  
leather-bound bustline. "SWEETO!"  
  
The deadly little smile vanished, to be replaced by shock. Her  
hand shot out, but the little shriveled pervert deftly dodged it,  
still nuzzling her breasts. Hotaru growled. The only person  
she'd let try that was Ranma. The little smile returned, though,  
as her skin changed textures. Before it was silky and soft. Now,  
it was stickier than superglue. Her hand grabbed the pervert  
now stuck to her. "Just FRY!" she growled through clenched  
teeth. Intense surges of black power blasted Happousai off her  
now sticky surface. She willed it back to its previous satin  
smoothness, then she reached into subspace for her discarded  
Silence Glaive. Picking up the little pervert by wedging his head  
between the two blades, she shoveled his blackened body out a  
window.  
  
She grumbled and ripped the door off the storage closet the two  
idiots were hiding in with her free hand. The damn little pervert  
had used the last of her patience and taken the fun out of her  
quest. She had really wanted to see if she could kill the fat  
bastard from sheer stress, too.  
  
She looked arouynd, noted that Tendo was under an upside  
down garbage can and, while theoretically invisible, the magical  
signature of a Jusenkyo curse was present in the middle of the  
room. She grabbed the man under the can and held him five  
inches off the floor with her left hand. "Leave. Now. Or die."  
she said, not even looking at him. Her eyes were fixed on the  
spot where Genma was. It started to move, realizing he wasn't  
as undetectable as he thought, but the point of the Glaive  
dipped, barring his escape. Still not looking at the shaking,  
bawling man she held, she threw him out the door.  
  
Hotaru's fingers snapped. The door slammed shut behind her,  
and a magical field popped up, masking the wall in shadows and  
preventing interference. "Now... you're mine." she said, now  
holding the Glaive at Genma's throat.  
  
  
  
Cologne quickly assembled the other fighters, many of whom  
were still clutching their sides or limbs which had been  
brutalized in the last round with the mazoku.  
  
"Damn it!" Ryouga snarled. "That girl hit harder than Ranma  
could!" He punched a wall, which promptly collapsed.  
  
Cologne turned to him. "Shut up, you fool. What she has  
demonstrated is only a small fraction of her master's true  
power."  
  
"Her master?" Ryouga said, lowering his fist.  
  
"Her master." Cologne repeated. "Ranma Saotome." The others  
gasped.  
  
"She's Ranma's SERVANT?" Mousse wailed.  
  
"But Ranma wasn't nearly that strong!" Herb protested.  
Cologne waved them down.  
  
"Maybe not, but that makes time of the essence. If Ranma is  
getting stronger, we need to find and beat him as fast as  
possible. Take care of him and these other mazoku will be far  
weaker." she said, willing her voice to remain level and strong.  
In truth, she was more frightened now than she was in the fight.  
She had expected Ranma to be the one causing the destruction,  
not some servant. And if his servant was so strong... how was  
she going to fight him now? "Herb, come with me. We need to  
talk."  
  
  
  
Genma screamed. This had been going on for quite a while, but  
it impressed Hotaru how he could continue even after she had  
cut open several botles of Clorox. The fumes should cause any  
normal human to hack out their lungs. She reviewed her  
handiwork.  
  
Several fingers had been removed - slowly - and his face was a  
mess of shallow cuts. Disgusting lumps disfigured his body  
where she had phased through his skin to cut through the  
muscles and tendons below. She had been very careful not to  
damage his skin too much. She had plans for a panda-skin rug,  
after all. And she had done some nice work with a torn  
extension cord, as well.  
  
Pouring some of the Clorox up his nose was her personal stroke  
of genius, she thought.  
  
"It's too bad I don't have a nice pit of cats to keep you in for a  
few days." Hotaru cooed. She figured he was too far gone to  
hear her, but it wasn't like that was going to stop her from  
gloating. She rolled him over and kicked him into the wall.  
Several shelves collapsed, dumping more random chemicals  
onto the floor and making the air even more toxic. A spare  
water cooler tank smashed over Genma, turning him into an  
ugly fat panda again. "Ah, so it ends now!" she said, a little  
excited and a little sad. She had decided that she'd keep him  
alive until something or someone else turned him into a panda.  
A little game of hers.  
  
The Glaive came down, and started its grisly work.  
  
  
  
Hotaru walked back towards the Nekohanten. She had others  
to exact revenge for, after all, as a tribute to her one true friend,  
now stolen from her. She shifted the still bloody panda skin  
bundled up on her shoulder.  
  
Five sailor suited warriors of love and justice appeared, ready to  
smite evil and make the world safe for teenage girls everywhere.  
  
Hotaru waved at them. "Ladies, I don't really feel like fighting  
you tonight. So, why don't you go home and I'll call of my  
demons and we'll call it a night."  
  
The Senshi stopped and stared at each other. An enemy was  
negotiating with them? And not as blackmail, but an apparently  
honest deal? Moon held up a hand. "Um... we need to think  
about this. Time out!" she said, forming her arms into a T.  
  
Hotaru blinked for a second, then sighed in resignation. She  
leaned against the lightpole and tapped her foot against the  
ground, waiting for them to reach the only realistic conclusion.  
She looked at the huddling Senshi with extreme boredom. They  
have maybe a brain and a half among five of them trying to  
reach a decision only half a brain was needed to reach. Why was  
it taking them three times to reach it, then?  
  
Moon and the other Senshi broke their huddle, and Sailor Moon  
took a step forward. "We've decided to OOF!" she managed to  
say, before Jupiter elbowed her in the ribs and leapt forward,  
pointing over Hotaru's shoulder.  
  
"It's the guy who saved me!" she said excitedly. Hotaru turned  
absentmindedly before her eyes opened wider than a dinner  
plate.  
  
"RANMA!" she said, giving him a flying glomp that suprised all  
of the Senshi. Ranma staggered before hugging her back.  
  
"Yeah, I'm back." he said, smiling. "I see you've met Genma."  
he said, eyeing the panda fur on her shoulder with a more  
neutral eye.  
  
"Damn it!" Makoto grumbled. "Why are all the real guys either  
brainwashed by the bad guys or ARE the bad guys?"  
  
  
  
Makoto was healed by Moon while Genma was being tortured.  
  
Yes, yes, I'm back. But I don't plan on writing too much right  
now.  
  
Ranmazoku Chapter 9b - The Nightmare Of The Future  
By PansutoTarou5925  
  
DISCLAIMER - I do not own the rights to Slayers nor do I  
own the rights to Ranma ½. Long live the rightful owners of  
these two fine anime. This work is non-commercial and is done  
only in imitation of Rumiko Takahashi and Hajime Kanzaka.  
Imitation is the sincerest flattery, no? US rights owned by Viz  
and Software Sculptors. If I mention the Senshi, Sailor Moon  
belongs to Naoko Takeuchi(Sp, anyone?) and.. and.. I dunno  
who has the US rights, but it's theirs not mine. (I'm drawing a  
blank) Appleseed is the property of Masamune Shirow.  
  
  
  
Author's note - This story originated from an idea on  
Nighthawk's page and is some guy named NesTea's fault. If  
he's reading this, I'm curious to know what he thinks of all this.  
Questioning me would be like questioning Xellos if you ask  
when the next section comes out, because it's a secret.  
  
ALTAVERSE WARNING - This is an ALTAVERSE. Events,  
characters and the like may not resemble canon. People who are  
rabid canon-thumpers beware! (and eat a Dragon Slave while  
you're at it)  
  
PREVIOUSLY - Ranma discovers he's not Genma's son, that  
Xellos is his father, that he's not even human, studies black  
magic under Phibrizzo, yadda yadda yadda, gets in a fight with  
Ryouga and curses a decent sized crowd to act like Kuno. Then  
he corrupts Hotaru into becoming a mazoku and put a world of  
hurt on some poor Daimon and Eudial. Afterwards he spied on  
the Inners, took Nabiki, and got Kasumi angry! Then they went  
to the Slayers world and met Lina and Co under false identities.  
After that they duked it out with Sherra and Ranma vanished  
after touching a magic sword. Hotaru smacked around the  
Senshi and now Ranma's back. Read the previous chapters,  
really, I'm not good at rehashing stuff.  
  
NOTE - [...] indicates telepathic communication between  
Ranma and Hotaru in the Astral plane.  
  
  
  
Ranma groaned and grabbed his head. The last thing he  
remembered was summoning every last bit of willpower he had  
to grab the sword the statue had. He looked around. The sword  
was nowhere to be seen. He sighed.  
  
Had all his planning come to this?  
  
What or where was 'this', anyhow. Ranma looked around, this  
time studying his surroundings instead of searching for his  
blade. Inky black surrounded him, embraced him, lost him in its  
infinite depths. He looked up, down, to the sides.  
  
No differences.  
  
Am I dead? he asked. But his voice was stilled in the black. He  
tried again. Not a word issued into the darkness. It was like he  
spoke, but it didn't matter. Hotaru! Can you hear me? Are you  
here? he yelled, as loud as he could. Still silence. He tried to do  
some kata, but all he could do was flail around and drift.  
Nothing gave him any sense of up or down, back or front. No  
surface under his feet to give him a solid stance, no air to rush  
by him in his aerial forms. It was a void of nothingness so  
complete that it was more than merely substantial.  
  
Ranma drifted through the void. If he could do it all again, well,  
he'd just steal the Sword of Light rather than be pitched into  
this oblivion, but he'd still be after the prize of power. He had  
too many enemies to bury, too many hurts to let life get the last  
laugh. Newfound anger rose within him, stirring his willpower  
and sheer confidence. Even this formless void cannot hold  
Ranma Saotome! After all, Ranma Saotome always wins in the  
end. Ranma grunted, exerting his will  
  
Escape, escape!  
  
Escape.  
  
C'mon, damnit, escape!  
  
Ranma slumped. He wouldn't get out that way. He yelled in  
frustration, again with the words muted by the infinite darkness.  
That's when he was struck by a large beach in the back.  
  
  
  
Ranma raised his head up, shaking sand from his hair. He was  
half embedded in the sand from the waist down, in a giant sand  
crater. He dug himself out and climbed out of the pit. He was  
quite impressed; he had made plenty of impact craters in Nerima  
and this was a real winner, fifteen feet deep and thirty across.  
He wondered how fast he must have been 'drifting' in the void.  
  
The sky still held that formless darkness, which could be a  
hundred feet away or a hundred miles and no one could ever  
tell. It was still the void,with not a breath of air, as sand drifted  
straight down, without the gentle drifting it normally had.  
Ranma looked around the sandy beach, noting an area of  
vegetation. He walked off across the sand, deciding that if there  
was anything to see, it would be there.  
  
  
  
There was a woman by a house next to a pond at the center of a  
garden. She had golden hair that fell in cataracts past her  
shoulders, but if you squinted and looked at it funny, it spun  
dizzyingly in waves and whorls like a thousand brawling  
tornadoes. She sat by the pond and stared at it, not moving, just  
as the pond stared back, also not moving.  
  
Despite there not being a speck of light in the sky, a wan light  
illuminated the garden and the house, the woman and the pond.  
  
Ranma stepped forward, suddenly cognizant of the fact that  
whatever dread silence that permeated every part of the land -  
including himself- had been revoked. An owl hooted  
somewhere, and a strand of hair from the golden haired woman  
moved lazily, as if caught by a stray breeze.  
  
Next to Ranma, a leaf dropped like a lead brick, without  
fluttering. There was still no air. Then how did he hear the owl?  
He began to say hello, but something stopped him. It was this  
uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. It said the woman was  
dreadfully dangerous. It said she was completely harmless.  
  
Ranma would have been fine with either feeling. It was having  
both that disturbed him.  
  
"Welcome. I've been expecting you." the woman said, still not  
turning, still looking into the pond. Apart from that single stray  
strand not a muscle moved.  
  
"Er... I'm Ranma Metallium.. ah.. nice to meet... you.." Ranma  
said, awkwardly, trying to remember the few bits of politeness  
he had picked up in Nerima. Most of the politeness involved not  
braining perverts and idiots, which wasn't of much help.. but  
some useful things remained. He waited for a while, hoping  
she'd say something else.  
  
Silence reigned once again.  
  
After a minute, Ranma coughed and asked. "Ah... how did you  
know I was coming?" The woman shifted her head a little, then  
turned around to face Ranma. Golden hair framed alabaster  
skin. Deep golden eyes, froze Ranma to the core.  
  
"I knew - because I brought you here. And I knew - simply  
because I know everything." She turned back to the pond.  
  
"You're L-sama!" Ranma said, the spell passing once those  
unearthly eyes left him. The woman's lips curled slightly.  
  
"Of course. And you are quite the ambitious young mazoku. I  
haven't seen your kind in thousands of years. Everyone is so  
satisfied with the status quo. Everyone is so satisfied with  
order, even those sworn to undermine it. Witness Xellos.  
Witness Gaav. Witness even Phibrizzo, who sought to destroy  
everything rather than destabilize it. Laziness and the slow  
numbing of time take away their edge, take away their fire. The  
mazoku have lost their fear of the dragons. None fear the fire in  
their breaths because they have no fire in their souls. And that is  
what is truly important." L-sama paused, picking up a small  
stone by the pond. She glanced back at Ranma. "Already you  
have changed more in the month you have knwon your heritage  
than the mazoku have collectively changed in a thousand years.  
Witness the future of your world." She threw the pebble in,  
ripples flying away impossibly fast, leaving a reflection of the  
future in the pond, instead of a reflection of the formless void.  
  
Ranma then realized where he was. He was in the very Sea of  
Chaos itself. He was not just talking to L-sama, he was within  
her mind itself. He shivered a little and looked in the pool,  
which had not stopped reflecting the darkness above, but  
merely put it in a form he could understand. That was why L-  
sama studied her pond eternally. Slowly a vision fo Tokyo  
Harbor took form.  
  
Crystal towers rose above the harbor, bridges seemingly made  
of smoke and glass crossed the harbor; it was impossibly dense  
and built up. Enormous billboards dominated the view; neon  
lights scintillated between the crystal skyscrapers. "Is this..  
Crystal Tokyo?" Ranma asked, uncertain. "I thought the Senshi  
wanted to rebuild their ancient kingdom."  
  
L-sama smiled again. "That is indeed what they wished to do.  
You have made that impossible. Consider what you have done.  
Pluto is powerless, Saturn defected, Moon altered beyond  
repair. Their three most powerful members neutralized- at least  
as far as Crystal Tokyo goes. This, then, is Crystal Tokyo as  
itshall be now: a city of clones, cyborgs, and bioroids, where,  
bereft of magic, the Senshi make do with ingenuity and  
technology.  
  
The view shifted, showing the inside of an enormous crystal  
dome. The Senshi were assembled, and the arrangement was  
telling. Standing at the sides of NeoQueen Serenity were Sailor  
Mercury and the magic-lacking but obviously technologically  
enhanced Pluto, looking down at the other Senshi, who were  
seated not in front of a throne in a hall but around a conference  
table in a meeting room.  
  
"What the hell? They're cyborgs!" Ranma exclaimed, looking at  
Mercury and Pluto.  
  
"Indeed. Forced to lean ever more and more on their sole  
member with brains, this is the path the Senshi will go down.  
The Mercury Computer is directly wired to her nervous system  
- needless to say, a formidable adversary. Pluto is likewise  
enhanced, as you can see, though far less obviously - and far  
less extensively. The others are genetically engineered clones of  
the originals."  
  
"Clones? What?"  
  
"You killed the originals - or Saturn did, or one of your other  
allies. Oh, it hardly matters who killed them. Die they will, since  
they are the edge of the sword, and take all the damage. But  
engineered to be tougher, to use more magic and faster - they'll  
give you a run for your money." L-sama said, then wavved her  
hand. The pond returned to blackness.  
  
"Why did you show me this?" Ranma asked, still confused.  
  
"Because I wanted to reward you for giving me something new  
to look at, instead of 'same old, same old'." She waved again,  
stopping him from replying. "I'm not making you one of the  
Mazoku Lords. You get to do that on your own. No, I was  
giving you a little foreknowledge of the future for your own  
benefit. I know of your plans for the world, and I know of the  
Senshi's plans for it - and I approve more of the former than the  
latter. These Senshi are more heavy handed than they would  
have been otherwise, but" she shrugged, "they do not control  
the world, either. They just want to." The owl swooped down,  
landing on her finger. " I dislike visitors, and you shoudl not  
tarry overlong her besides. You have things to do in your  
world. Kind bird, return him to his world."  
  
"Wait!" Ranma exploded. "Where's my sword?"  
  
L-sama pointed at his waist. He looked down and saw the blade  
hanging by his side as if it were meant to be there. "It is where it  
should be - with you. Now go!" The owl leapt off, turning into  
a dark shadow and dragging him into the void, where it blended  
in perfectly and the sensation of movement, of acceleration,  
ceased.  
  
Ranma slammed into the ground again. This time, the crater  
was of a more normal size. He recognized he was in Juuban -  
kane had whacked him this far plenty of times - although it was  
burning and looters rushed out of a Sony store. Maybe another  
quake had hit while he was gone? Ranma shrugged and idly  
hacked a guy who struck out at him with a knife in two with his  
impossibly sharp sword. Person and knife both seperated in two  
and dropped noisily in the gutter.  
  
The various looters gave Ranma a lot more room after that.  
  
Ranma took about three seconds before recognizing Hotatu's  
unique magical signature. Whistling happily, he ran off along  
what remained of the rooftops of Juuban.  
  
  
  
Ranma recognized the various Senshi in a huddle, and Hotaru  
leaning against a lamppost. He walked up behind her.  
  
"It's the guy that saved me!" Green Skirt yelled, taking his  
attention off Hotaru for a second. That was long enough for  
Hotaur to turn, recognize him, and crush his ribs - if he had any,  
that is. The look of sheer disbelieving joy on her face was one  
of the few bright moment in his dark life.  
  
For the first time in his life, Ranma hugged a girl back.  
  
  
  
Ranma grabbed Hotaru and dragged her out of the lamplight.  
The Senshi were dispersing, apparently deciding that the  
fighting was over for the night. Hotaru pulled loose from  
Ranma and slammed his face into the pavement with the Silence  
Glaive. "Where the hell have you been?" she yelled.  
  
Ranma peeled himself off the street and glared at her. "Drifting  
in the Sea of Chaos for a few hours and having a conversation  
with the Lord of Nightmares herself. That's what."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Oh is right. Anyhow, there's maybe twenty demons running  
around. Send them back. We've got to go to Jusendo - I've got  
the sword now." Ranma said, pointing to the blade hanging at  
his belt. "I want to get there beofre anyone realizes I've left."  
  
Hotaru shifted. "If you want to get there first, we should bring  
more demons to keep them busy."  
  
Ranma shook his head. "No. Speed is of the essence. You  
remember Sherra. There have to be other mazoku who covet  
the power. But L-sama wants - maybe needs - me to get that  
position. I have to do it as fast as possible." Hotaru nodded.  
  
"Should I get Nabiki to cover our backside?" she asked.  
  
"Nah. It doesn't matter what the people here do, and I need her  
to lay the groundwork of the next stage of my plan, anyhow."  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"I need to get my hooks in government and terrorist  
organizations."  
  
"What?" Hotaru asked, suprised.  
  
"The Senshi will build a Crystal Tokyo. But I'm going to  
precipitate it. I'm going to bring everything to a head well  
before they can handle rebuilding things." Hotaru blinked. "I  
need to bring disaster to prevent it. I need to bring disaster so I  
can bring the true freedom of chaos to the world..." He trailed  
off, looking westward. "But to do that, I need power. And to  
get power, I need - Jusendo."  
  
Hotaru grabbed him. "Then let's go. Teleport us to Jusenkyo."  
  
"I haven't told Nabiki what she has to do yet!" Ranma  
protested.  
  
"So? Tell her after. It won't be long"  
  
Ranma shuffled about, then nodded. "All right. Let's go." Two  
forms vanished from the still burning ruins of Juuban.  
  
  
  
Across town, in the Nekohanten in the heart of Nerima,  
Cologne and Herb agreed. In between the two was the Nanban  
mirror. It was cracked, and they had already discovered that for  
some reason they could not travel through time. The two  
looked at each other gravely.  
  
"Then we are agreed. If we are to prevail, we cannot do it  
alone."  
  
"I am loathe to bring him into this. The price would be too  
great." Herb said unhappily.  
  
"We have no choice. Without Saffron, we cannot defeat  
Ranma." Cologne insisted.  
  
"Dealing with the Pheonix God is never easy."  
  
"Try dealing with a powerful mazoku. Saffron is the lesser  
threat by far."  
  
Herb sat in silence for a while. "If Saffron isn't mature, he  
probably won't be able to defeat Ranma either."  
  
Cologne grinned nastily. "Even better then. We can finish off  
Ranma and not worry about Saffron."  
  
Herb frowned at that. It was perilously close to treachery... "Let  
us do it. I see no other course. Hand me that onion." A single  
tear fell on the mirror, and the two were whisked deep within  
Pheoniz Mountain.  
  
  
  
Ranma and Hotaru stood on a cliffside. Down below was a fog  
laced with bright magics. "This is it..." Ranma said, gesturing to  
the murk below, a few bamboo poles poking out. ".. the  
accursed valley, Jusenkyo. Unfortunately, the magic here is too  
restricted to draw. We need to go to the source." Both looked  
down, seeing with senses beyond human. A trail of magic  
flowed underground from the mountains, growing thinner and  
stronger the further back one went. "Come on. And don't fall  
in."  
  
The two walked harmlessly among the pools, being strong  
enough to resist the pull of the accursed waters. When they  
emerged unscathed on the other side, the guide (Who was  
currently about to dunk a rat in the Spring of Drowned Cow)  
fainted in amazment - falling right into the spring. A strange  
cow-flamingo-porcupine-alligator stuck its head out of the pond  
and shook an appendage at the two travelers.  
  
The two continued along, following the underground stream of  
magic. They avoided the Amazon village and blasted a path  
through the currently unoccupied Musk Citadel. Without  
stopping to rest or sleep or eat the two crossed river, mountain,  
forest, swamp. Finally, on the second day they found the source  
of the waters.  
  
Jusendo.  
  
Two large taps, one a dragon, the other a pheonix, stood over a  
giant basin. "Looks like a giant sink." Ranma snorted.  
  
Hotaru jumped up to the Pheonix tap. "Which one does it have  
to be?"  
  
Ranma cupped his hands. "You know I always want hot  
water!"  
  
"Then you're in luck - you're in plenty of hot water now." a  
new voice boomed. Ranma and Hotaru turned around, looking  
for the source of the voice. A man with golden wings and hair,  
flanked by a white haired winged woman one one side and  
Cologne and Herb on the other. The two non-winged people  
started chuckling. The winged chick - obviously one of the  
Pheonix People - was holding a gold staff with a ring on the  
top. Herb was holding a silver one with a crescent on the top.  
  
"What do you find so funny? I'm going to have you two well  
done and these birdbrains rotisserie style." Ranma said,  
annoyed. How the hell did these guys get here? And Saffron?  
He didn't know if he were up to clobbering one of the Pheonix  
Lords of this staff. If he wasn't a mazoku he wouldn't give  
himself a prayer. Between his magic and his sword, though, he  
felt he had a decent chance.  
  
That was all he needed.  
  
"You're as insulting as they said you were." Saffron said with a  
sneer. "I won't let you sully the sacred waters of Jusendo with  
your filthy mazoku hands." He flicked a fireball at Ranma.  
  
Ranma drew his sword and batted it back, blowing up part of  
the wall and dropping dirt on the four there. "Filthy? Take a  
look in the mirror, chumps."  
  
Saffron clapped and held out his hand. The bird lady tossed him  
the staff. "So you aren't completely hopeless after all. Prepare  
yourself!"  
  
"How'd you knwo I was coming anyhow?" Rnama asked,  
curious.  
  
"We felt the stirrings of a mazoku a month ago." the bird lady  
explained. "So we brought Saffron to Jusendo for his  
transformation. Then these two," she continued, gesturing to  
Cologne and Herb, "told us all about you. Naturally we grew  
more concerned - but then you headed straight here."  
  
Hotaru yawned , holding the Silence Glaive in the other hand.  
"Enough talk. Kill him and get it over with, Ranma, I have  
some Senshi to off."  
  
Ranma grinned and put his sword in a guard position. Getting  
the power wouldn't have felt right unless he felt he earned it.  
And he was certainly going to earn it now.  
  
  
  
It's short, but it's only a teaser. This is the part of 9B that  
explains where Ranma's gone (remember, he's only been  
missing, what, a few hours?)  
  
Now I added the second part. Ranma is at Jusendo. Chapter 10  
is at hand.. Ranma vs Saffron! Ranma's  
  
Yes, yes, I'm back. But I don't plan on writing too much right  
now.  
  
Ranmazoku Chapter 10 - Wolf Vs. Pheonix  
By PansutoTarou5925  
  
DISCLAIMER - I do not own the rights to Slayers nor do I  
own the rights to Ranma ½. Long live the rightful owners of  
these two fine anime. This work is non-commercial and is done  
only in imitation of Rumiko Takahashi and Hajime Kanzaka.  
Imitation is the sincerest flattery, no? US rights owned by Viz  
and Software Sculptors. If I mention the Senshi, Sailor Moon  
belongs to Naoko Takeuchi(Sp, anyone?) and.. and.. I dunno  
who has the US rights, but it's theirs not mine. (I'm drawing a  
blank) Appleseed is the property of Masamune Shirow.  
  
  
  
Author's note - This story originated from an idea on  
Nighthawk's page and is some guy named NesTea's fault. If  
he's reading this, I'm curious to know what he thinks of all this.  
Questioning me would be like questioning Xellos if you ask  
when the next section comes out, because it's a secret.  
  
ALTAVERSE WARNING - This is an ALTAVERSE. Events,  
characters and the like may not resemble canon. People who are  
rabid canon-thumpers beware! (and eat a Dragon Slave while  
you're at it)  
  
PREVIOUSLY - Ranma discovers he's not Genma's son, that  
Xellos is his father, that he's not even human, studies black  
magic under Phibrizzo, yadda yadda yadda, gets in a fight with  
Ryouga and curses a decent sized crowd to act like Kuno. Then  
he corrupts Hotaru into becoming a mazoku and put a world of  
hurt on some poor Daimon and Eudial. Afterwards he spied on  
the Inners, took Nabiki, and got Kasumi angry! Then they went  
to the Slayers world and met Lina and Co under false identities.  
After that they duked it out with Sherra and Ranma vanished  
after touching a magic sword. Hotaru smacked around the  
Senshi and now Ranma's back. Read the previous chapters,  
really, I'm not good at rehashing stuff.  
  
NOTE - [...] indicates telepathic communication between  
Ranma and Hotaru in the Astral plane.  
  
  
  
Ranma eyed Saffron warily. As of yet, no one there had made a  
move. Hotaru was floating in midair, crouched over the Glaive,  
which was currently aimed at the ledge Cologne and the others  
were on. Ranma ran a finger along his blade - being extremely  
careful to only touch the flat - and turned his focus inwards for  
a second. Saffron's muscles tensing intruded only dimly on his  
mind. Perhaps he ought to take the offensive. "Hotaru! Do it!"  
  
What 'it' was didn't need to be vocalized. The Silence Glaive  
spoke, blasting the rock above Saffron's allies and burying them  
from the debris. Ranma didn't expect that to delay them  
overlong, in fact, even as he began to teleport he saw the rock  
rising and exploding from the Bakusai Tenketsu, but the other  
bird-person's brief yelp of surprise had distracted Saffron.  
  
Saffron dodged with blinding speed, but Ranma still scored a  
clean slash along Saffron's cheek. The Pheonix God flew  
backwards, putting distance between himself and Ranma.  
Ranma laughed. "It shouldn't be that hard to cut you down to...  
size?" He stopped laughing. Even as he watched, Saffron's cut  
healed and vanished. 'On the other hand, this could be a bit  
harder than I bargained for. Forgot about his healing!'  
  
Saffron replied with a storm of small fireballs, correctly figuring  
Ranma couldn't block all of them. However, Ranma simply  
teleported out of the way. Saffron didn't duck this time, he just  
fired a fireball over his shoulder.  
  
Ranma slammed into the wall hard. "Damn fireballs!" He felt his  
skin quickly healing - if not quite with the speed of a pheonix,  
then close enough. He flew forward out of the crater in the wall  
he had made. The two combatants stopped to readjust their  
views of each other.  
  
"Not bad." Ranma allowed.  
  
"You're not too bad yourself." Saffron agreed. A nasty smile.  
"It's almost a shame I'll have to kill you."  
  
Ranma's smile transcended nasty. "That's my line." He  
teleported away from a chi blast. "Heh, Herb, don't you know  
to only pick the fights you can win?"  
  
Saffron snorted. "You should follow your own advice."  
  
Another predatory smile from Ranma. "I always believe there's  
no fight I can't win." Herb fired another chi blast, which Ranma  
this time redirected at Saffron with his sword. Ranma flew in  
behind it, giving Saffron the choice of dodging blast or blade,  
but not both.  
  
Saffron simply snuffed out Herb's comparatively feeble blast  
with a fireball the size of a Buick. Ranma spiked the fireball  
down into Cologne with the flat of his sword and tackled  
Saffron in midair. Shifting quickly, he transformed his free hand  
into the claw that his monstrous form had so he could match  
Saffron.  
  
The two began a brutal midair wrestling match of claw and  
blade. Without enough room to swing for a truly lethal blow,  
though, the two merely cut each other up without doing real  
harm.  
  
At least by crowding Saffron Ranma prevented anyone from  
taking potshots at him. He needed to think.  
  
  
  
Down below, Hotaru was having the time of her life. The only  
one who could seriously hurt her was currently wrestling with  
Ranma a hundred feet above the ground. Herb, with his magic  
staff, was only interested in watching Ranma and Saffron and  
waiting for an opportunity. She herself was backpedaling, using  
her staff and enhanced mazoku strength to stymie all of the bird  
woman's - Kiima, her name was - and Cologne's assaults.  
  
Cologne's staff darted in, fired at her leg. She noted Cologne  
wasn't wasting her time with pressure points and vitals this  
time. She figured the old monkey had finally figured out she  
didn't have any. It still made her only a small nuisance  
though,trying to cripple her. She was pushing six feet in her  
current form, and was wielding even the heavy iron Silence  
Glaive one handed. Her other hand alternately blasted the two  
with magical lightning and dark fire, or just slapped them  
around.  
  
Kiima's sword rushed in at the same time as Cologne's next  
staff strike. Stepping forwards into the blade, Hotaru let it ram  
right through her. She slipped her other hand on the Glaive and  
swung the wrong end like a baseball bat, whacking Cologne and  
sending the light old woman tumbling. Then she slapped her  
hand on the blade, holding it fast, and wiping the victorious grin  
off of Kiima's face. "What are you smiling about?" Hotaru  
asked.  
  
Kiima screamed as Hotaru pumped a few thousand volts of  
magical electricity into the blade. She dropped back, twitching.  
  
"Herb! Stop goofing off and help us!" Cologne said. Hotaru  
raised her Glaive above her, asi if to finish off Kiima. Herb  
turned away from Ranma and Saffron's midair brawl in order to  
see Hotaru about to slash down on the helpless Kiima.  
  
"NO!" he yelled. "Hito Ryu Zan Ha!" Multiple blades of ki  
energy flew towards Hotaru.  
  
Hotaru turned around. "Suckers." She teleported away, leaving  
Herb's attack to smash up Kiima even worse than she already  
was. She reappeared behind Herb and simply tried to hack him  
in half with the Glaive.  
  
Herb raised his staff, the Gekkaja, and blocked Hotaru's  
overhead strike, the sheer force of the mazoku driving him to  
his knees for a second. "Ugh!" he grunted, standing back up.  
Hotaru increased the pressure on him again, but their little  
strength contest was aborted by Cologne's arrival. Her staff  
strike was easily dodged, but she simply started backpedaling  
again.  
  
She was back to where she had started - but with one less  
attacker. She felt time was on her side. After all they were only  
human. Or mostly human, at any rate.  
  
A loud thud distracted them momentarily, as a huge mass fell  
from the sky.  
  
  
  
The enormous winged wolflike thing that was the monstrous  
form of Ranma Saotome hunched over the slightly squashed  
Saffron. He stood on his rear legs, holding his sword in one  
talonlike claw. "Heh. Let's see how you can survive in a  
wrestling match with me now." Ranma growled, his voice  
unnatural and grating now. The sheer bulk of Ranma put him  
near Pantyhose's bulk, and a meaty hand formed a huge fist that  
slammed down into Saffron with the speed of the Amaguriken.  
The basin they were fighting in cracked, as Saffron was  
slammed through the ground with inhuman strength.  
  
Ranma's fist reared back again, and Cologne and Herb thought  
this monster was going to finish off Saffron. How could  
anything survive another such blow? But a huge fireball shot up  
and blasted Ranma's head.  
  
Blinded, Ranma's fist sailed wide of the mark, blasting another  
hole in the floor. Ranma shielded his eyes with his arm,  
narrowly missing slicing Saffron in half with the blade it was  
holding as he whipped it up over his scorched eyes. He howled  
in pain.  
  
Saffron jumped forward with the Kinjakan, hoping to turn the  
tables even further, but Ranma's fist sailed out again and aught  
Saffron clearly in the chest.  
  
Saffron grunted and opened his eyes to see the enormous bulk  
of Ranma's snarling form diving towards him, that deadly little  
blade - for tiny it was compared to the size of Ranma's  
monstrous body - whistling in a large arc, ready to tear him in  
two. He jumped forwards, accelerating his leap with golden  
wings, Kinjakan blazing fire and reeled back for a mighty blow.  
He came in too fast for Ranma's outstretched arms to readjust;  
Ranma had committed himself fully to the attack. Saffron  
grinned as Ranma's eyes widened.  
  
Ranma's jaws shot forward, honed by years of snatching stray  
bits of food from midair.  
  
Saffron was crushed between Ranma's jaws. He flexed his hand  
inside Ranma's jaw, intending to roast him from the inside out  
and see if he could shrug THAT off, but Ranma didn't give him  
the chance. Ranma flung Saffron against the wall and unloaded  
another earth-shaking punch into the Pheonix God.  
  
  
  
Hotaru returned her gaze to Colgone and Herb. "Looks like  
your birdbrain friend isn't going to last much longer. You two  
should leave. I'll let you live - but how long could you hold out  
against the two of us?"  
  
Cologne and Herb stopped for a second, before Herb thrust the  
Gekkajan at her. Hotaru easily parried with the Glaive.  
  
"What, you want to die? No problem, we aim to please."  
Hotaru's fist snapped forward and caught Herb under the chin.  
Cologne held open a small paper fan. "What's that, a toy?"  
Flames burst from the fan, blackinging Hotaru's face.  
  
She wiped off the soot. "Why, you!" she screamed, cutting  
loose with an aura of power that nearly brought the two to their  
knees through sheer force of the dread and hatred that it  
contained. Hotaru didn't waste time, abandoning her  
defensiveness in favor of trying to crush these little gnats.  
  
Cologne and Herb hastily scrambled back out of the way of  
Hotaru's swipes with the Glaive. Its business end was now  
topped with a shimmering field of force and tore up the ground  
just by passing near it. Direct hits broke open rocks, which then  
melted and exploded.  
  
Dodging crazily, Cologne backed up, spiralling inward. It  
wasn't a very neat spiral, but with the kind of power Hotaru  
was putting out, it didn't need to be. Apart from avoiding  
getting killed by the angry mazoku, the sheer force of Hotaru's  
aura kept disrupting her Soul Of Ice. It guttered again as she  
tripped over a rock. The Glaive screamed in, Hotaru's rage  
coming through the tip and emitting so much force it disrupted  
space itself. Cologne panicked for a second, before realizing.  
Ice. Her hand closed on Herb's staff.  
  
"HIRYUU SHOTEN HAAA!" the old Matriarch of the  
Amazons called out, as an enormous tornado snapped Hotaru  
into the air.  
  
"ARRRGgghhh!!" Hotaru's voice screamed, fading as it shot  
up into the heights of the chamber.  
  
  
  
Ranma looked away from where he was pounding Saffron to  
see Hotaru vanish into the tornado. "NO!" he yelled,  
punctuating his cry with a thin bolt of energy that struck the  
Gekkajan straight on, sending Cologne into the wall. She was  
held up for a moment by the sheer momentum fo the attack,  
then fell, slumped, unconscious.  
  
Saffron realized this was his chance to reverse the one handed  
beating he had been getting from Ranma. Reaching back he  
snapped off his wings and threw them as hard as he could. The  
golden wings of the Pheonix flew out, crescent blades of death.  
The left wing missed, but the right wing struck Ranma squarely  
in the shoulder. The monstrous limb fell off and dissolved into  
the primal black magic that was the true form of all mazoku.  
Ranma bellowed. In his shock from losing the limb, he  
transformed back into his human form.  
  
Ranma looked at his shoulder. Saffron stepped forward, a  
fireball in his hand. "Come now, you're going to lose now.  
Even you can't grow that back fast enough."  
  
Ranma looked at Saffron, looked over to where Cologne was  
lying, and turned back to Saffron. "I won't need it now." he  
replied, smiling.  
  
  
  
Hotaru slammed into the ceiling, having been taken completely  
by surprise by that last attack. She snarled. Already her injuries  
were healing; but that attack had been a stroke of genius, using  
her own innate dark power against her. She felt a little sick; it  
had scrambled her a bit on the Astral, even.  
  
Fortunately for her, Cologne was concentrating on Ranma's  
battle with Saffron. Her eyes fairly glowed when Ranma's arms  
was cut off. The Glaive shot up; the words "Silence Glaive  
Surprise" almost came to her lips. But then Ranma's own  
words reached her.  
  
Just what did he have in mind?  
  
  
  
Saffron smirked at the one-armed mazoku in front of him. Did  
he really think he could defeat the mighty Pheonix God with  
such a handicap? Saffron blurred forward, the Kinjakan  
snapping through the air.  
  
Ranma calmly moved aside, the staff flaring to incandescence as  
it neared Ranma, scorching the earth as it hit. Saffron swung  
again, to be met this time by the impossibly strong mazoku.  
Ranma's blade caught the staff on its flat, and only a swift step  
to the side prevented Ranma from slicing him with that sword.  
  
Ranma concentrated for a second, and the sword pulsed with a  
dark force all of its own. "Fear the power of my sword. With  
every taste of power it grows stronger." Saffron snarled and  
redoubled his assault. The blazing Kinjakan burned with  
Saffron's power, as Saffron sought to overwhel the injured  
mazoku. Ranma's own sword fairly hummed as Ranma poured  
more and more of his strength into the blade. It now hummed  
with a chainsaw buzz, and every time their weapons clashed  
great gouts over energy erupted, blasting everything around  
them. The walls began to blacken as the two fighters glowed  
with a power scarcely imaginable to mortal martial artists.  
  
  
  
Cologne and Herb were awestruck. The two could not move  
before the spectacle of power in front of them. Even when the  
power being put out forced them back, sliding them back across  
the floor like so much loose garbage, the two did not avert their  
eyes, did not utter a word. It was a clash of titans that they  
could never hope to match in power.  
  
Cologne hoped ferverently that the two killed each other.  
  
The two were so mesmerized by the power struggle between  
Ranma and Saffron that they failed to hear the sound of an agry  
mazoku dropping from the ceiling onto her feet, nor did they  
see the aura coming off the pissed Dark Senshi behind them.  
Hotaru stalked up behind them, Glaive raised in both hands  
above her head.  
  
"DIE!" Hotaru shrieked, the Glaive snapping over Cologne's  
head. As Herb's head whipped around at the sound, her leg  
lashed out, punting him skyward. Even as Hotaru lifted Cologne  
off the ground, strangling her with the pole of the Glaive, Herb  
reversed his direction of flight and returned, sped by a fresh  
increase in the power coming off of Saffron and Ranma.  
  
"Ryu Sei Hisho!" Herb said, firing his special double ki blast.  
Hotaru simply gritted her teeth and stomped on the annoying  
Ryuuzoku.  
  
With Cologne vainly trying to resist her innate mazoku strength  
and Herb firmly under her boot, Hotaru laughed. "Worms! I'd  
have let you go, but for that last attack I'm going to have to  
eliminate you." Cologne's struggles grew a little more feeble,  
and her eyes were beginning to swim with blackness from the  
intense pressure. Hotaru wasn't just cutting off the air, she was  
cutting off the blood as well.  
  
Cologne tried to think of a martial arts technique - any  
technique - that could help her in such a situation. Her ki was  
low and she wasn't in a good condition to use it anyhow.  
Nothing else would faze the mazoku - unless...  
  
She gritted her teeth. She'd hate to feel indebted to Mr. Part  
Time, but there was no need for him to hear of this anyhow.  
Her hand slipped into her sleeve. She felt her hands slip into the  
pockets her ki made, and found what she was looking for. A  
few packets of hot sauce she kept in weaponspace, along with  
spare forks, knives and the like. She reached up and popped  
them in Hotaru's face.  
  
"AIIIIEEE!" Hotaru shrieked, covering her eyes and dropping  
Cologne. Her other hand shot out and cracked across the back  
of Cologne's head. The Amazon Matriarch flew off, impacting  
against the wall with a loud THUD. Herb escaped from under  
Hotaru's foot. Angry, blind, and now beyond all restraint,  
Hotaru started swinging wildly, blasting everything nearby.  
  
Cologne watched as Ranma and Saffron continued their battle,  
the ground below them now glowing slag, but the fight  
continued above ground. Cologne noticed the two Jusendo taps  
melting. At least it would be a while before the Pheonix People  
could bring Saffron to maturity again.  
  
She watched as Ranma seemed to spiral backwards, as if he  
were going to perform the Hiryuu Shoten Ha. But his aura was  
enormous, almost as huge and energetic as Saffron's. So that  
couldn't be it?  
  
Or was he just on the defensive, playing the waiting game?  
  
What was Ranma up to?  
  
  
  
Ranma continued to give ground, looping inward. The Bras  
Blade was untouched, pristine, and shrouded in black magic,  
whil the Kajakan was more battered, the power of the magically  
sharp blade damaging even it, but it too glowed with the fire of  
Saffron's magic. Ranma backed up and reached the center,  
tripping.  
  
The Kajakan leapt forward, seeking his heart.  
  
Ranma stabbed forth with the Bras Blade, smiling, as he poured  
every ounce of his black power into the tip. He called out the  
name of his impromptu attack, that used the danger of mixing  
black and white magic - "MARYUU SHOTEN HAAA!"  
  
The Demon Dragon Ascending Wave. Mixing magic of black  
and white was dangeroud, but this was a directed danger. An  
explosion of immense power ripped skywards, tearing apart the  
ground and sucking the waters of Jusendo upwards. Meanwhile,  
Saffron was blown backwards, borne away on a storm of  
darkness.  
  
Ranma began to absorb the ancient power of Death Fog, which  
had lain dormant in Jusendo these many years.  
  
  
  
Cologne's eyes widened in horror. The dark tornado seemed to  
explode outwards, expanding and consuming the chamber. It  
expanding walls slowly spiralled towards her. Heedless of her  
injuries, she sprang to her feet. "Herb! Get Kiima and escape!"  
Her voice was barely carrying over the infernal roar of Ranma's  
attack, but Herb ran out from behind his rock, her finger  
pointing at Kiima telling him all he needed to know.  
  
Besides, only a dunce would have failed to realize that the wall  
of swirling darkness advancing upon them was a bad thing.  
  
Hotaru opened her eye without hot sauce in it and eyed the wall  
of darkness warily. Sure, this was obviously Ranma's, but she  
had the feeling that it would take out anything, regardless of  
affiliation. Seeing the others fleeing, Hotaru decided to teleport  
outside.  
  
  
  
Outside, everything had been blasted away. The roaring tornado  
of black magic screamed skywards, and gale force winds ripped  
over the land. Of Saffron and Ranma, nothing could be seen.  
  
Suddenly, as abruptly as it had exploded across the landscape, it  
vanished.  
  
Ranma hovered over a blackened, smooth glass crater. His arm  
was fully healed, and he flexed his regrown hand. Ranma  
sheathed his sword. "Power," he said simply. Ranma shifted  
into his female form, then returned to male.  
  
Ranma looked at Herb. Herb suddenly shifted to his female  
form. Ranma smiled. "The power of Jusenkyo is mine. The  
power of Jusendo is mine." Ranma pointed his finger at a  
nearby mountaintop, which promptly exploded into ruins. He  
cut loose with good old fashioned maniacal laughter, which  
echoed across the reshaped landscape.  
  
Herb-chan and Cologne shivered and quickly slunk away.  
Kiima, however, started looking for Saffron's egg. He was  
obviously dead, or he would have flown down to challenge  
Ranma. She shifted painfully. Obviously her wing had been  
broken in the fight, and it would take a while to heal. Her left  
arm hung limply as well, and her eye on that side was swollen  
shut as well. She had to get Saffron and get him to safety. Then  
she'd have to make the journey to Tokyo. They needed stronger  
allies against this monster.  
  
Ranma stopped his laughter and saw Hotaru. He teleported next  
to her in a flash. "Hey, Hotaru!" he said, smiling broadly. "Pack  
your bags. We have a trip to make!"  
  
Hotaru smiled back. "You're going to lay claim to one of the  
two open positions as Mazoku Lord?" Her smile widened into a  
grin.  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Then.. shall we go?"  
  
Two mazoku vanished from Earth, making a brief stop in  
Tokyo to give Nabiki some instructions.  
  
  
  
Afterwards, Cologne and Herb had gathered the collected Musk  
and Amazons. Cologne rapped her new staff on the challenge  
log to get their attention. "Listen, my people!" she gravely said.  
"There is a new force for evil in the world. Despite our proud  
and storied past, we cannot prevail alone. Beyond that, the dark  
power of Jusendo is awakened. We cannot stay here overlong.  
We must abandon the lands of our foremothers and go to  
Tokyo, there to meet with others who can help." Cologne  
paused and looked over the assembled crowd. "The force we  
fight we cannot possibly confront and beat alone. I know your  
hearts tell you this cannot be, but it is true. We two, and Saffron  
besides, were not enough to win. We would be like wheat  
before the reaper."  
  
Herb took over. "There are those who possess a power  
different than that of the mazoku, but strong in its own way.  
We need to go to Japan and get their help. That is the only way.  
Neither we nor they can kill the mazoku alone. But combined,  
we stand a chance."  
  
A voice cried out from the crowd. "Just a chance?"  
  
"Better than no chance!" another replied. The crowd erupted  
into a thousand arguments. Cologne and Herb tried to get them  
under control, but it was not until hundreds and thousands of  
shadows swept over them that they were silenced. "Look! It's  
the people of Pheonix Mountain!" the second voice cried out.  
  
"If even the proud people of Pheonix Mountain seek allies, you  
MUST see that flight is our only option!" Cologne yelled.  
  
It took a few hours, but the Amazons were on the move. The  
day after, the Musk began an eastward trek as well.  
  
  
  
Nabiki laughed, as she looked over her assembled army. Ranma  
had taken one of her pens and enchanted it, giving her the  
power to command the minds of animals cursed by Jusenkyo.  
Between that, the Chiuusuton, the waters of Jusenkyo, and a  
nearby anthill, she had quite the credible force built up. She  
took each thousand soldiers under the command of one of those  
Brass Demons Ranma had shown her to summon. Soon she  
would have enough troops to send a force to storm one of the  
nearby Red Army bases and seize weapons. Most of them  
would be slaughtered, but then again, she thought, looking at  
the army of tigers, yeti-riding-bull-holding-crane-and-eels,  
wolves, Asuras, and other assorted nasties. Once she had  
uniforms and weapons she could equip a force that would  
attract less undue notice.  
  
From small time loan shark and blackmailer to potential  
conqueror. Yes, her sights had been set much higher by her deal  
with Ranma...  
  
  
  
And that concludes the first part of Ranmazoku. I'll also post  
what part of the SPECIAL was completed, as well as a chunk  
of chapter 11 and a sidestory to Ranmazoku.  
  



	6. Ranmazoku Special

  
Ranmazoku Special By PansutoTarou5925  
  
DISCLAIMER - I do not own the rights to Slayers nor do I own the rights to Ranma «. Long live the rightful owners of these two fine anime. This work is non-commercial and is done only in imitation of Rumiko Takahashi and Hajime Kanzaka.  
Imitation is the sincerest flattery, no? US rights owned by Viz and Software Sculptors. If I mention the Senshi, Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi(Sp, anyone?) and.. and.. I dunno who has the US rights, but it's theirs not mine. (I'm drawing a blank)  
  
Author's note - This story originated from an idea on Nighthawk's page and is some guy named NesTea's fault. If he's reading this, I'm curious to know what he thinks of all this.  
Questioning me would be like questioning Xellos if you ask when the next section comes out, because it's a secret.  
  
ALTAVERSE WARNING - This is an ALTAVERSE. Events,  
characters and the like may not resemble canon. People who are rabid canon-thumpers beware! (and eat a Dragon Slave while you're at it)  
  
SPECIAL WARNING - The previous events were the first arc of Ranmazoku, chapters 1-10. This is an intermission period between the events of Ranmazoku and Ranmazoku Next.  
  
NOTE - [...] indicates telepathic communication between Ranma and Hotaru in the Astral plane.  
  
Nabiki sighed in contentment. The beach here was just fantastic.  
And her campaign of 'liberation' had met with great success. Of course, she could credit Ranma's considerable magical assistance in that regard. Her magically enhanced army had ripped right through the Red Army, and were now consolidating their gains. Her timetables called for a tighter hold on China before making her stab to the southwest, and the lynchpin of the world.  
  
Of course, the war with the Senshi was started and nasty, as well. They were tougher than her troops - but only in their home. Once they started teleporting, they weren't so tough.  
The problem was that they tended to teleport in those damn Musk and Amazons. Fortunately, she managed to exercise some restraint on their activities. It wasn't that hard to have a few sailor-suited girls pumped up with black magic cause enough random destruction in Tokyo to get the authorities on their cases. Of course, blackmailing the Senshi into leaving her alone had been harder. Not in that they didn't fold immediately, but more in the fact that they had a distressing tendency to kill the messenger. It was only when she phoned them directly from the Chinese embassy to their home that they took her seriously.  
  
She wondered why Ranma wasn't letting her simply eliminate them. He had just replied "Orders from the top." Which just begged the question of who Ranma reported to.  
  
Nabiki ignored that. Problems were so easy to push away when you had a pina colada on the beach.  
  
The legion of Nannichuan-cursed soldiers who would do anything she asked didn't hurt either. Nabiki smiled. Every  
world leader should build a capitol beach house...  
  
Ranma and Hotaru left the first Mazoku Lord's mansion. While Dolphin's place would be annoying - though far less than it would have been prior to Ranma having control over the curses of Jusenkyo - Dynast's place was still a frozen hell. Dynast had been rather shocked, to say the least, when Ranma had teleported directly into his innermost chambers. That had spoken of a power level on the order of Zelas, or Dolphin, or Dynast himself... in other words, that one of the two vacancies for the position of Mazoku Lord was now filled. Ranma thought back to their conversation.  
  
"Sherra will be disappointed." the master general noted. "She wanted so much to deny any child of Xellos even life, never mind such power." He laughed lightly. "She's still after enough power to claim the other seat. So you may have a rival."  
  
Ranma shrugged. "That's her problem, not mine."  
  
"I see you have a general," Dynast said, glancing at Hotaru,  
"but I do not detect in her the powers of a priest. Do you have a candidate in mind, or have you already gotten one?" A sly smile crossed his face. If he were lucky the answer would reveal much about this great unknown with the Metallium name.  
  
"Her name is Nabiki. I acquired her recently in the Desert of Destruction." Ranma said, smoothly deceiving his fellow lord with the truth. Let him turn over every sun bleached rock in the desert; no clues would be found to Nabiki's whereabouts.  
  
"In the Desert?" Dynast said, raising an eyebrow. "The desert tribes are quite tough."  
  
"Oh, of course, they make excellent servants." The chatter had gone downhill from there, until Ranma had gotten bored and left suddenly.  
  
"Why did we leave?" Hotaru asked, jolting him out of his reverie.  
  
Ranma turned around. "Look, my name means Chaos Demon,  
doesn't it?"  
  
Hotaru nodded. "Yeah, I've always wondered that, given your mother -"  
  
"That means I'm allowed to be unpredictable, Hotaru." Ranma said, interrupting her. Ranma turned back around, then suddenly whirled back, causing Hotaru to walk into him. "As for my mother..." He trailed off.  
  
"Yes?" Hotaru prompted.  
  
"I don't know either." Hotaru slowly toppled, losing her grip on the Silence Glaive in surprise.  
  
Farther away, Lina Inverse was busy pillaging the table of catered food at Martina's wedding. Sausages, breads splashed with olive oil, rare cheeses, and sliced fruit all disappeared before her mighty assault. Beside her was her valiant comrade-  
at-arms, Gourry Gabriev, valiantly doing battle against a platter of turkey.  
  
All other guest had fled the field of combat and were observing the spectacle. Usually with comments like, "Have you ever seen such atrocious manners?" and, "What pigs!", but most of all, "They're not leaving any for me!" They were about to be saved, however. And not by any heavenly source.  
  
As night had fallen and the party raged on, so to had Ranma and Hotaru continued their trip to visit the other lords of the mazoku, to confirm Ranma's new position. It was as the moon was rising that Ranma and Hotaru had begun their visit with Zelas, his grandmother, and the new order of things was set in stone. It was a change that would alter forever the world.  
  
The moon went black, and an earthquake shook the ground.  
This got Lina's attention, although Gourry was still stuffing his face. The mild quake wasn't enough to cause damage, but it certainly got the attention of the crowd. Once they noticed the blackened moon, however, the guests started to panic. "It's the end of the world!" one man shouted. Overhead the stars themselves moved, some exploding, some dimming, others brightening, as the heavens made war upon themselves.  
  
"Incredible!" Lina said, awestruck. "Hey, Gourry, check this out!" she said, staring at the constellations in tumult. When no response was forthcoming she clouted Gourry upside the head with her mug.  
  
"Mmmggh?" Gourry said, his face stuffed. He then saw the fireworks in the sky and his jaw dropped, spilling half-eaten turkey on the ground.  
  
A patch of stars in the east where before had been the glow of Gaav's symbol, a ring of red stars, now glowed two stars, one bright and shining blue, the other deeper, darker, and nearly purple, at the head of what seemed a serpentine coil of stars.  
The star-dragon fought, driving back the lesser stars, until it cleared a space about it, and its head looked west to the Wolves, symbol of Zelas.  
  
"Gourry! Do you know that this means?" Lina asked excitedly.  
Normally she'd have to smack Gourry for not knowing, but today she was too excited, and simply continued on. "There must be a new mazoku lord, one to replace the ones we've killed. There's going to be whole new realms of black magic opened up!" Lina looked into the sky at the two stars that seemed to be a path to destiny. If she learned and developed the first spells from this new source, her name would live among sorcerers for all time.  
  
The food forgotten - by Lina, at least - the two paid the newlyweds their respects and left, immediately seeking Xellos.  
If anyone could tell them about the new force in the world, he could.  
  
"New Mazoku Lord?" Xellos asked, curious. He peered over the table, his eyes still closed. "Whatever are you talking about,  
Lina?"  
  
Lina rolled her eyes. "A week ago. Stars falling from the skies,  
earthquakes, portentous signs of doom in the heavens. That sort of thing. A new constellation appearing in the sky where Gaav's was. You know, that new Mazoku Lord." The two companions watched as Xellos downed another mug of ale. The bastard was eating on their bill and still wasn't telling them anything useful.  
  
"Ahh! You're talking about that little event!" Xellos rubbed his chin thoughtfully, as if it were something that required deep thought. "I might know something about that.. then again, I might not."  
  
Lina's face clouded over. In a remarkably accurate imitation of Xellos's voice, she mocked him. "I might shove a Dragon Slave up your butt... then again, I might not."  
  
Xellos laughed. "In that case, I guess I can't refuse. The new Mazoku Lord is named Ranma. He's said to be quite the warrior. He's already engaged in some fights with Sherra, in fact. He's the mazoku the rumors have been talking about who battled her near the northern mountains."  
  
"Ranma, eh?" Lina said thoughtfully. "I thought I knew of every powerful mazoku around, but that's a new one to me."  
  
"It's a new one to a lot of mazoku. You see, Ranma is just a child. An infant, by mazoku standards. But a very powerful and ambitious infant." Xellos said, smiling. He was quite proud of his son's achievement. Of course, he couldn't let the fact that Ranma was his son slip to Lina. It would give them the wrong impression of him.  
  
Lina blinked incredulously. "So, every powerful mazoku is out killing each other for the power, and the one who gets the power is an infant?" Xellos nodded, then took another drink from his mug. "That's insane!"  
  
"Quite so." Xellos agreed. "However, because he was so young, no one had any reason to hate him - or fear him. That gave young Ranma a lot more freedom than for some older mazoku. He's already gathered to himself some like minded young mazoku and will doubtless stir up a lot of trouble.  
  
"Sounds like a barrel of fun." Lina stated dourly. There's a child demon running around with enough power to rearrange a few continents. Life sucked. They'd be fighting him within the year,  
she wagered.  
  
Xellos, however, chuckled. Lina figured it was because of her discomfort. Or maybe it was the thought of some kid wreaking havoc. Or maybe it was that he had picked this crummy dive and found perverse joy in forcing her to drink this swill and pay for it. There were far too many potential sources of joy for the mazoku. Best to get away from him. "OK, Xellos. Drop dead,  
will ya?"  
  
Xellos laughed and waved at Lina and Gourry. "See you again Lina. And you too, Gourry." He chuckled for a while, then left.  
He wasn't paying for the crappy drinks here. The waitress cursed, noting that the purple haired bastard hadn't left a tip.  
  
Outside the restaurant, Lina ripped the tape off Gourry's mouth that had prevented him from making a fool of himself. Well,  
more of a fool; pouring that mug of ale down his shirt because he forgot about the tape was one of the most boneheaded things she had ever seen. "OK, Gourry. We're off to the northern mountains." Left unsaid was her desire to avoid Zefelia and her sister, something that would be marginally complicated by going to the mountains. "We're going to find clues to help us find this Ranma kid."  
  
Gourry had a spaced out look. He raised one finger. "One thing.  
If this mazoku is a child..."  
  
"Yes?" Lina asked.  
  
"Does that mean he'll look like Phibrizzo?" Gourry finished cluelessly. Lina staggered back as if stricken, then recovered herself.  
  
"NO HE WON'T, YOU EEEDIOT!" she yelled, punching him in the head. Grumbling, she walked off towards their 'liberated'  
horses. At least on horseback Gourry had fewer chances to annoy her. The horse did that well enough alone.  
  
Ranma sneezed, wondering if someone was talking about him.  
Hotaru had an answer for that. "Of course you're being talked about. Look at the fireworks that went off because of you. That whole damn world probably knows about you now. All they know is 'Ranma.. who the hell is Ranma?' but they certainly know about you."  
  
Ranma ignored Hotaru's comments. She had been kind of bitchy the last few days. Ranma chalked it up to it being 'that time of month', although the real reason was currently thirty feet away in a barely-there bikini. Namely, Nabiki.  
  
"You've done real good for such a short period of time."  
Ranma said, for what had to be the hundredth time.  
  
"Oh, please," Nabiki said, still lying on the sand, "you've only said that a hundred times already. A little magic, a few million soldiers, and it's simple, really. "  
  
"How modest and unlike the Nabiki we all know and love."  
Hotaru grumbled. Her armored outfit didn't really fit in at the beach, but she'd be damned if she was going to look like part of Nabiki's side of operations. Unfortunately, that meant sweating in black leather.  
  
Ranma chuckled. "Awww, does little Hotaru-chan want an army of her own? Fine, you need some action anyhow. I'll give you everything you need to form your own army of destruction tonight. You've got priority over Russia. Deal?"  
  
"Only if I get Europe after." Hotaru said, still grumbling, but only because Ranma was more likely to give her that important theater as well.  
  
"Deal. I'll handle India and Southeast Asia. Nabiki, how goes the battle in Korea?" Ranma asked, switching his attention again.  
  
Nabiki flipped up her shades to take a better look at Ranma. "It goes alright, I suppose. It's a real pain pretending to be democratic and peaceful, and that my troops in the North are local rebels that I'm just supporting. But, on the other hand,"  
she chuckled, "the whole notion of Communism being overthrown is something that the West wants to desperately believe. So they fool themselves, too."  
  
Ranma blinked. "You mean they believe our front government in Shanghai?"  
  
Nabiki nodded. "The Senshi and their assorted allies in Japan have raised a fuss, and they're propping up the Commies with magical aid, a kind of common front against the demons sort of thing. But they're mostly ignored, even in Japan. Heck, the Japanese government wanted to deport them, but they made noises about being political refugees. They aren't exactly welcome."  
  
"So they're trying to deport the Amazons, Musk, and the people of Phoenix Mountain, huh?" Ranma said. He then thought of something. "I bet the people of Phoenix Mountain are having a REAL fun time. Those wings probably are attracting scientists like a magnet."  
  
Nabiki grinned. "Got it in one. Though several of them are lying low by using Jusenkyo curses."  
  
"So how goes the family, Nabiki?" Ranma asked, curious. He wasn't too unhappy about leaving Nerima, as his home had always been the road, but he was kind of curious about what was going on in the old neighborhood. He felt he could drop by and exult in his victory over the others. After all, there wasn't anything they could do about his presence - yet. If L-sama's plans continued the way they were supposed to, the Senshi would eventually develop enough power to at least inconvenience him.  
  
"They're doing well. I've been teaching Akane some black magic. Simple stuff, really, but it's caused the Senshi to raise a fuss." Nabiki said. "I've disabused them of the notion that Akane is one of us."  
  
Ranma and Hotaru turned around at that. "Oh? And how did you do that?" Ranma asked. "Those clowns haven't shown too much of an acceptance of anything resembling reality yet."  
  
Nabiki smirked. "Normally, I would say yes. However, I sent a few weak minions over there to be trashed by Akane. They can tell Akane is human, ergo, by their incredibly simplistic view of the world, she must be one of the good guys."  
  
"Strictly speaking, she's not one of us." Hotaru was quick to point out. Anything that Nabiki did to attempt to increase her share of power in relation to her and Ranma was by nature to be suspected. At least in Hotaru's eyes, anyhow, Nabiki was untrustworthy.  
  
As for Ranma, who knew whom Ranma trusted? Hotaru,  
certainly....  
  
"Have we located either of the others?" Ranma asked, dropping the conversation about Akane.  
  
Nabiki sat up and took off her sunglasses. Finally, they got to the important stuff. "We've located Rouge. Pantyhose-"  
  
"Refer to him as Tarou only." Ranma interjected.  
  
"OK, Tarou is currently unlocated. We have no idea where he is."  
  
"Where's Rouge?" Ranma asked. It would be nice to expand his 'Dark Senshi', and, besides, he had an angle for recruiting her.  
  
"Would you believe in Shanghai?" Nabiki said. "Convenient,  
no?" Ranma nodded.  
  
"Hotaru." he said, getting his general's attention. He brought her aside to give her private instructions. "I want you to go to Nerima. Quietly. Don't raise a fuss until I'm there to support you. I'd not tell you that except I know how much you want to smash the Outers. Remember that if you wait until later, you'll be able to get your revenge multiple times after they start cloning Senshi." She nodded. "I'm going to head to Shanghai and recruit a new member. I think you will agree that you don't need to play bodyguard in our own territory."  
  
"This area is not fully pacified." Hotaru quickly pointed out.  
  
Ranma shrugged dismissively. "What are they going to do, nuke me? They don't have any way of hurting me." Hotaru conceded the point and vanished, teleporting away to Japan. Ranma jogged off to the city.  
  
Hotaru arrived in Tokyo within seconds of leaving China. The Senshi would inevitably detect her arrival, so she summoned a few of the simple Brass Demons that they had been using as shock troops and left. They'd provide a simple distraction.  
  
She smiled as she left the scene. Unlike the sloppy Senshi and their allies, Ranma, Nabiki and she were disciplined and well prepared. They didn't waste their time with the elaborate and foolish plans that most of the Senshi's enemies had used. Even as she was not yet two blocks from where she appeared, the Senshi arrived and began fighting the demons. They had been doing this every few days, and Nabiki had carefully and methodically tracked each of the Senshi home. They knew where each one lived, and their true identities. They knew what they liked, disliked, how badly they did in school - the whole nine yards. Nabiki was collecting quite a dossier on each of them in Shanghai. That would assist with battle plans greatly.  
Of course, it also meant that Nabiki was becoming important in her intelligence gathering activities.  
  
Hotaru believed that for Ranma to become too dependent on any one person - except herself, as she was completely loyal to the cause - was dangerous. Hence her decision to develop her own network of spies. Hence her destination. The Kuno mansion.  
  
Hotaru arrived and simply floated over the grounds, avoiding the many traps and dangerous creatures that lined the grounds.  
She phased through the walls and started searching.  
  
All of the people were garbed in black. While to a great degree this was because ninety percent of them were ninja, one needed only to look at Principal Kuno, dressed in a tacky black Hawaiian shirt with black rose lei, to realize that they were still mourning the death of Tatewaki Kuno. She ignored them and continued on, attracting notice from the many ninja. Since it was her intention to be noticed, she ignored them, and smashed through the door to the gymnasium.  
  
Inside, Kodachi Kuno was practicing, an activity brought to a screeching halt by the appearance of the tall Dark Senshi.  
"Greetings, Lady Kuno." she said, remembering what she had learned of their madness from Ranma.  
  
"You are one of those wretched Dark Senshi that have vexed our defenders." Kodachi said, ignoring her politeness.  
  
"Perhaps." Hotaru said. "Defenders they might be, but they can't help you. I can." At least she could now that Ranma, and hence she, had more power.  
  
"And what possible help could you be?" Kodachi said, absently twirling a club. "You can't bring my brother back. And as much as I dislike him, it pains me to have my father moping about the house so."  
  
"I can bring him back." Hotaru said. The words struck Kodachi as if she had been shot. Behind her she could hear several of the ninja scurrying off to fetch Principal Kuno. that was fine with her. It would indebt more people to her.  
  
"Explain." Kodachi said, having practically teleported in front of Hotaru after recovering from her shock.  
  
"I can bring him back to life. In return, all I need is for you to keep me informed of a few things around town." Hotaru said.  
  
"You want us to be your spies." Kodachi said, disgusted.  
  
"You've already got spies. I just want you to pass along what you learn. Perhaps once or twice we'll have a special task for you - but we'll reward you separately for those." Hotaru said smoothly.  
  
Kodachi licked her lips. Nervously, she summoned the nerve to ask this.. creature.. something near and dear to her heart. "You don't suppose you could bring back.. Mother.. could you?" Her heart stopped, hoping against hope.  
  
Hotaru cocked her head to the side, thinking. 'I have no idea whether I can bring people back from the dead once they've been gone so long. Maybe Ranma can - but then I'd have to reveal this to him. Well, I can always justify it as me developing my own intel network...' Hotaru straightened and pulled down the edge of her dress. "I'll see what can be done. But your debt will be great, I assure you."  
  
Kodachi ignored her, turning instead to the small shrine of her mother in the gymnasium. Her mother had instilled in her her twin loves of botany and gymnastics. "I am sure you will be able to help us." Kodachi said, regaining a touch of her normal pridefulness. Hotaru smiled. This combination of arrogance and pride would prove helpful in getting them to spy. It was as her instructors on Saturn had told her, so many millennia ago. The best spies were those who worked for you because of ego and conscience.  
  
Hotaru faded out of sight. "Expect your brother back by sundown," she said as she faded from sight. Flying invisibly through the walls and out of the trap-infested Kuno compound,  
she headed swiftly to the empty lot that was currently being walled off from the public and paved over. The location of the Spring of Drowned Kuno.  
  
Principal Kuno rushed into the gymnasium, followed by Sasuke and the other high level ninja retainers. "What dey say, wahine?  
Dey gonna bring mah boy back?" Kodachi continued to look at the shrine of her mother. She did not reply.  
  
Ranma walked into Shanghai. The city that had been the jewel of China's economy under the Communists was somewhat subdued, confused at the sudden shift of governments. There was some celebrating going on and a political rally going on in a park. They really believed - at least some of them - that a true democratic system would be put in place. Most weren't so enthusiastic. They figured that leaders came and leaders went,  
but life went pretty much the same as always - that is, badly.  
Ranma snorted. If they knew what he really had planned they'd be stunned at its sheer audacity. But then again, no one had ever had the sheer power and willingness to see through his ideals. Ranma knew. He had spent the last few days looking through books searching for ways to not sound like a complete ass when talking about politics. After all, one of them needed to go up in front of CNN or NHK or whatever and give a little speech. Already they were harassing Nabiki's troops. It was his personal opinion that they needed to get Tarou for dealing with reporters. Having him give speeches to anyone would be pretty damn funny (although Ranma was privately worried that he'd start a war because of his big mouth. Actually, that's why Ranma was hiding from the cameras, too. The only people he seemed to never screw up with were other mazoku.) and he was Chinese to boot, so they wouldn't wonder what the heck a Japanese national was doing in charge of the revolution.  
Besides, Tarou had declared his plans for political power before anyhow.  
  
Ranma shook his head. Politics gave him a headache. He just wanted to be left alone to do his own thing. Of course, it was never that easy...  
  
Ranma found the girl he was seeking in a restaurant. She was singing karaoke. Nabiki had informed him of her existence after getting a list of current curse victims from the Guide. Given his now complete control over the curses of Jusenkyo, able to lock,  
alter, or remove curses at will, as well as bestow them on the unwary, Ranma felt that he had the perfect offers to both Tarou and this young Chinese lady. If he gave Tarou conscious control over his curse, removing the triggers of hot and cold water, he felt the multiply-cursed boy would swear himself to his service.  
Especially if the promise of power and conquest came with it.  
Rouge he had a different approach planned for.  
  
He knew much about the different curses now. The Spring of Drowned Asura affected not merely the body but also the mind of the person afflicted. It was almost an entirely different person. Ranma felt that if he toned down the personality change - just a tiny bit more aggressive, and enhanced the mazoku characteristics of the cursed form - and gave her conscious control as well, that she would join them as well.  
  
Ranma's mental reviewing of his plans almost caused him to miss the end of her singing. Quickly he walked over to the girl.  
"Hello. I believe your name is Rouge?" he said in his heavily accented Chinese.  
  
The girl in question blinked at him. The distinctive taint of Jusenkyo told him that this was indeed the girl, though he wondered if she was going to deny her identity here. "Yes, I am. Who are you?" She began to drink a beer, ignoring Ranma for the most part. She probably thought he was just another guy hitting on her.  
  
Ranma shrugged. "Just someone who can help. You're cursed by Jusenkyo, aren't you?" Immediately Rouge chocked on her beer and started to cough. "I'll take that as a yes." Ranma said dryly. "Anyhow, I know how crazy everything is right now. We could use someone with your unique... skills. In return, we can offer some control over the curse - remove the problems with water and.. the ever so slight personality shift you might have noticed." Ranma smirked slightly at the last.  
  
"And what would this job entail?" Rouge said, having recovered somewhat from inhaling her beer.  
  
"Oh, several things, but mostly the use of your cursed form..."  
Ranma said, leading her to a corner booth as he continued his pitch.  
  
Hotaru had easily smashed through the concrete that the government had put over the Kuno 'spring'. She sympathized with them; she wouldn't want random passerby turned into obsessed morons either. Sighing, as she was about to bring back the archetype of said morons, she held her hand over the waters of the pool.  
  
Her hand glowed dark and began to pull tendrils of water upwards, as the water splashed and churned in agitation. More and more thin lines of water came from the disturbed surface of the pool. Drawn up to her hand along magical lines of force, the water began to glow the same color as her hand. Hotaru began then to shape the water she was pulling up, forming it into the shape of a kendoist she had only heard the name of. She didn't know what he looked like, but that was alright.  
  
The waters of Jusenkyo always remembered. Even if they were in an empty lot in Japan.  
  
Kuno's shape was growing more and more distinct. Bringing back someone who had been drowned in a spring was easy.  
There was no doubt in her mind that Ranma could go hunting for the spirit of Mrs. Kuno, as well, but it wouldn't be so easy.  
Not only was the human body largely water anyhow, but the springs themselves retained the shape and mind of the person who drowned there, as well as their spirit.  
  
Kuno's new body, kendo outfit and all, flopped onto the ground.  
  
"Get up." Hotaru commanded, then gave him a kick to the ribs.  
Kuno grunted and got up.  
  
Kuno's eyes lit up, and Hotaru had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Ahh, my dark angel, you have rescued me from the waters. But wait, where is the vile sorcerer?" Kuno asked,  
placing his hand over his eyes in a comical pantomime of searching.  
  
"He's in China." Hotaru said truthfully. "Listen -"  
  
"Aha!" Kuno said, taking a triumphant pose. "No doubt he fears my wrath!"  
  
"Actually, he thinks you're dead." Hotaru grumbled, highly annoyed. "Hey, look, there's a few things you need to know..."  
Hotaru trailed off as a bouquet of flowers was shoved in her face. She took them, looking over them as if she had been handed several large, disgusting snakes.  
  
"Allow me to give you a small token of my gratitude." Kuno rambled, ignoring her. "It is my duty as a samurai to repay you for saving my life, dark angel. So.. I will date with thee!"  
Hotaru smashed him over the head with the Silence Glaive.  
Damn fool.  
  
She grabbed a piece of paper that had been on the concrete wall and burned a message on the back with magic. 'You WERE dead. Ask your sister. I've brought you back. Have a few strange powers now. Find out about them on your own. Jerk.  
Without love, your "Dark Angel"' Rolling up the note, she jammed it in his mouth and left. With any luck the Senshi would sense the magic, see this moron, jump to conclusions, and kick his ass.  
  
It was unlikely, but she could always hope.  
  
Ranma sighed and decided to leave for Japan. Rouge had finally agreed, but only on one condition: that Ranma give her a better singing voice. That was a sufficiently weird request, and Jusenkyo unfortunately did not have a spring of drowned idol singer, but that was an easy one to fix. A little silent command to Nabiki, a little magic, one almost-drowned idol singer later,  
and...  
  
He was very happy to be clear of the karaoke bar now.  
Despite her power and abilities, Rouge's love of singing was somehow very annoying. She was.. cheerful. Happy. Not things that were normally associated with the allies of mazoku. Maybe it would throw off their enemies. It wasn't like Ranma was going to dismiss people just because they annoyed him. If that were true he'd have never recruited Nabiki.  
  
Ranma walked into an alley and teleported straight to Nerima.  
Which quite surprised the muggers who had planned on robbing him.  
  
Ranma appeared over Furinkan High as the sun set. Jumping easily off the roof, Ranma sprinted off towards the Ucchan's.  
He expected the Senshi to show up en route. He was not disappointed.  
  
"Halt, evildoer! For being a beacon of such evil on a beautiful sunset, which could be spent far better cuddling with a boyfriend, we, the Sailor Suited.. hey! Don't yawn!" Sailor Moon said, insulted that this mazoku thingy was taking her so casually.  
  
"Hey! It's that guy again!" Jupiter said. "Saturn's boyfriend."  
Ranma stumbled at hearing that description.  
  
"It's purely a working relationship, I assure ya." Ranma snarled.  
"Now scram before I blast you into next week."  
  
"We will never run from the forces of darkness, villain!" Sailor Moon proclaimed.  
  
"Speak for us all, will you, meatball head" Sailor Mars muttered.  
  
"As nice as it would be to chat with you, I simply don't have the time." Ranma aimed high and blasted the shadowy figure of Tuxedo Mask with a blast of energy. That guy annoyed the hell out of him anyhow. Roses....  
  
"TUXEDO MASK!" Moon yelled, running over to the crater where their backup had fallen. "Are you OK? You're.  
you're..."  
  
"groan.." the slightly dazed Tuxedo Mask mumbled. "I fell.  
funny.."  
  
"you're.." Moon said, still in shock at what she saw. The others ran up behind her as Ranma began to chuckle.  
  
"I don't know what you're laughing about, but we'll get you for it!" Venus said, shaking her fist. She turned around. "What's .  
oh my god..."  
  
"Tuxedo Mask is.." Rei said, gasping in shock.  
  
"A GIRL!" Moon said, finally snapping out of her shock.  
  
"WAAAH!" The feminized Mamoru felt her new body with increasing horror.  
  
Ranma just laughed evilly and vanished.  
  
The Senshi were currently having an emergency meeting at the Shrine. While this had been occurring more often of late,  
especially with the mazoku stirring up trouble so far away,  
where they couldn't easily fight, and dealing with their newfound allies and their problems fitting in to Japanese society, they were usually fruitless arguments on how to deal with the subversive monsters or how to get the Metropolitan Police to stop chasing Phoenix People, not arguments over female clothing.  
  
They certainly felt weird when the person being argued over was Mamoru Chiba, future King of the Earth. The general bizzareness was definitely contributing to the tense atmosphere in the Shrine.  
  
The fact that the rarely seen Outers were around and kept snickering about Mamoru's misfortune wasn't helping. That and Mamoru's own foul mood as she kept tripping over her feet in the clothes Usagi had currently picked for her. Usagi and company were arguing rather loudly over the next horror she'd be forced to wear.  
  
"Oh, Mamoru-chan," Haruka said, eliciting a fresh round of giggles from Michiru. "If you want, you can stay at our house for a few days. We'll be happy to tell you how to treat Usagi."  
Then she joined her partner in a fresh round of giggles.  
  
Mamoru flushed with anger, the redness going nicely with the dark pink hair she had somehow gotten as a girl. "You two aren't helping any."  
  
"What do you think we were offering to do?" Michiru snickered.  
  
"At least we know where Chibi-Usa gets her hair from."  
Haruka whispered loudly. The two broke into a fresh round of laughter and moved outside, letting Mamoru fume over her condition in solitude.  
  
Mamoru prowled the hallways for a while, hoping to avoid the attention of the girls. A faint "Mamo-chan!' wafting down the hallway told her she had failed.  
  
Hotaru smiled fiercely and surveyed her troops. She had gone for more of the demons and less of the Jusenkyo-cursed ants that Nabiki had favored, and had added her own specialty -  
mass destruction via the Silence Glaive. Teleporting hordes of her loyal troops into the main cities, then blasting the defending armies away with the wonderous power of her Silence Glaive Surprise had allowed her to oversweep the arid steppes of Kazakstan.  
  
She watched as the grim order she had given out were obeyed,  
as the offices and buildings that knit together this land were systematically razed. To chaos and anarchy was she sworn, and under its black banner she would bring all nations. She glanced eastward and sneered. Nabiki claimed she needed to keep some central governance in place in order to fool the UN and keep the Senshi at bay. Hotaru thought it was more her love of control. In her eyes, that was a betrayal of their mission of freedom.  
  
Her hand tightened around the Glaive. She had carried out this strike with efficiency and forethought, and struck with complete surprise When she headed north, she would not have that last advantage. As she faded back to Nerima, to meet up with Ranma again, she stopped worrying about the Russians. The Russians knew something was up. On the other hand...  
  
Just because they knew it was coming didn't mean they could stop it.  
  
Nabiki sneezed lightly and shook her head. Someone was thinking about her, she idly thought, most likely Ranma's pet Nazi in the leather skirt. She snorted and took another sip of her daiquiri. Ranma kept that lunatic out of her hair, and that was fine enough for her. All she cared about was the power, after all. She wasn't the kind of fanatically loyal lieutenant that Hotaru was, and she thought that was for the better. It meant her counsel was more calm. Rational. Evenhanded. That made her spies and intrigue all the more effective, in her opinion.  
  
She lifted the dossier for one Aino Minako up and flipped through it absently. She had thought up a half-dozen plans for subverting or distracting the various Senshi from being a threat.  
Each and every plan had been nixed by Ranma though. He seemed to want the Senshi to grow in power for some reason.  
That didn't mean that she didn't send a little grief their way now and again. Ranma had thought her plan to get the formidible Hinako Ninomiya transferred to the same school as Usagi to be a stroke of genius. Her chronic lateness would mean daily chi-drainings, and, as a bonus, several of the other Senshi were in her class and could reasonably expect to be drained as well. The only drawback in the plan was that the Senshi might kill Hinako if they decided she was a youma. In which case Ranma could always bring her back and add her to the pack.  
  
Nabiki smirked. She kind of hoped that happened; another pretty face would give Little Miss Fanatic an aneurysm. She was so obviously chasing Ranma it wasn't even funny. Of course, as usual, Ranma was completely oblivious. The situation almost made her nostalgic. It reminded her so much of the endless warring that Akane and the other fiancees would do to catch Ranma's heart.  
  
Nabiki waved to one of her troops - more like a personal servant in this one's case - and signalled for another drink.  
  
For the third time this week Ranma walked through the doors of the Ucchan's. For the first time this week, it was empty enough to talk to his friend.. "Hey, Ucchan. How's business?"  
  
The okonomiyaki chef in question turned around, smiling.  
"Doing good, Ranchan. There's a whole bunch of new customers nowadays. Amazons, Musk, even those weird Phoenix People. That and normal Chinese people. They've been kinda frightened lately, what with the government falling and all." She winked at him, and slid over one of her specials, which vanished with familiar speed. "Now, you wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"  
  
Ranma burped slightly, then smirked. Why not tell Ucchan? "Of course. It's got nothing at all to do with me. The Amazons and everyone running away from me and the government collapses.  
Had nothing to do with it" Ukyou nodded and served up another handful of steaming goodness, which vanished nearly as fast as the first. "What are people going to do about it, anyhow?  
No one's got the kind of magic I have to toss around, not even the Senshi, and do they really care that I knocked over a bunch of Communists anyhow? They're into this peace and justice BS,  
they should have done it ages ago."  
  
"So what's next on your list?" Ukyou wondered. First China,  
and now Kazakstan had mysteriously disappeared into a storm of anarchy and disorder. There was even less news out of Central Asia than China; no one knew what was going on there.  
  
"Touching base with all my old friends in Nerima. There's a few people I wouldn't mind seeing, yourself not the least among them. I wanna talk to the old freak too. I got some stuff Happousai would really want, you know? Kasumi, Akane, a few other people." Ranma quickly drank a Coke and sighed. He then smiled mischeviously and shifted to female. The slight thump of a customer falling out of their seat in shock was ignored by the two friends. "And Ryouga. I've got an old debt to pay back to the little pig." Ukyou looked at her friend with shock.  
  
"You did it without the water?" Ukyou asked, shocked.  
  
Ranma flexed her arm. "I got some serious powers , here.  
Anything you want to turn into? I can give you complete  
control."  
  
Ukyou laughed. "Maybe I'll take you up on the offer some day.  
But I'd have to think about it."  
  
Ranma snorted and got up. "Anyhow, I'll see you later. It's more fun to pound on the freak when I'm like this anyhow."  
She walked out, and Ukyou immediately turned back to cleaning dishes.  
  
Umino quickly got out of his seat and flipped off his tape recorder. One of the Sailor Senshi had been asking him to do all sorts of stuff for her in this district - taking pictures,  
interviewing people - but this had been the weirdest assignment.  
He had been on the lookout for this.. erm.. guy.. for a while,  
staking out this restaurant and waiting with the little Pressman in his pocket.  
  
He hurried to a library near his school and slipped the tape behind a copy of Robert's Rules of Order. It was the usual dropoff, and no person with a life would ever check it out. He had wondered if Sailor Mercury came to pick it up herself, and had lurked around the corner, but apparently she had gotten Ami to pick them up. He whistled, he hadn't thought the Senshi would be any good at this kind of cloak and dagger stuff.  
  
A very unhappy Mamoru stumbled back into the shrine. Still in her damned "Sailor Earth" fuku, at that. With a groan of long suffering, she dismissed the stupid costume and collapsed noisily on the floor. "Damn those monsters." This time, eight of the demons had been sent and were hijacking trucks. There didn't seem to be any purpose to it, but it had made their night a lot more interesting, racing along in Haruka's car and exchanging fire with the enemy in a high speed chase. It also meant that the police would be looking for Haruka because of her car being taken for a joyride by the Senshi, except that they had obliterated the car with her magical lava and a few World Shakings.  
  
It also meant that only a few Senshi had been driving in the car.  
The rest detransformed and had wandered off to meet here after they killed the demons. Meaning that, while she, Usagi, Haruka,  
Michiru, and Rei had been jammed into a car and doing a very good imitation of some demented action flick, the others had been able to goof off here. The world wasn't fair.  
  
"Oh, Mamoru!" Ami said, waving at the injured girl. "I've got some good news about your transformation." Mamoru's head perked up.  
  
"What could possibly be good news?" she asked.  
  
"It can be reversed somehow. Something to do with water."  
Mamoru practically vanished into the bathroom as Usagi and the other battle-weary Senshi trooped into the Shrine. She started up everything and anything that had to do with water. It had to be something this simple, especially when her apartment's water heater was all messed up, didn't it?  
Eventually she tried jumping into the furo and let loose a shout of triumph.  
  
"That was a GUY!" Rei said, alarmed. "In the bath - Mamoru!"  
She quickly grabbed a broom, followed closely by her friends as they prepared to teach the pervert a lesson and save poor Mamo-chan. Just before they entered the door opened and a naked, jubilant guy ran out.  
  
"EEEEK!" they all shouted, and promptly beat the crap out of him.  
  
"...urk..." the freshly pounded Mamoru muttered. The fact that all the girls were now apologizing profusely wasn't helping.  
This sucked.  
  
Hotaru reappeared in Nerima, summoning another swarm of demons - this time sending them into the subway. Sending them to steal that truck had been fairly entertaining too,but she wanted to see how the Senshi would handle this situation. She hustled across the district to meet Ranma as he left the Ucchan's.  
  
"So, boss, where are we off to now?" Hotaru said, shifting her distinctive outfit to something a little less flashy - a nice, plain black dress.  
  
"Actually, I have no idea. Little piggy never was one to be found easy."  
  
"What are you going to have to do with the Lost One?" Hotaru said, wrinkling up her nose. "He's a dishonorable bastard. Good source of depression, though, but I don't think you're in the mood for a meal."  
  
"I owe him." Ranma said, shrugging. "I did knock the damn fool into that pool."  
  
"You're going to cure him? That's... nice of you." Hotaru said.  
She remained conspicuously silent as they walked down the street, sneaking glances at him.  
  
Ranma smiled after a minute's silence. "Oh, don't worry, it's not all I'm going to do to him."  
  
"That's better." The two of them laughed lightly, continuing on their mostly random walk around Nerima. Given Ryouga's obsession with Akane, he should be somewhere nearby.  
  
Several hours passed with no sign of Ryouga.  
  
Ranma and Hotaru stopped under a tree, noting that the Tokyo Subway was down. "You had something to do with this, didn't you?" Hotaru nodded with a who-me? smile plastered on her face. "Well... that would mean the Senshi are probably finished with whatever fun you sent their way. Look, I'm going to continue to look for Ryouga... you can take the opportunity to beat up the Outers, OK?"  
  
Hotaru snapped her fingers and saluted sloppily as Ranma left.  
"Gotcha, boss." She happily ran in the direction of Juuban.  
  
Setsuna Meiou was not a happy camper. For the past few weeks she had been cut off from her powers while a mazoku, an enemy only thought a rumor even in the Silver Millenium, had come out of nowhere to derail the promise of Crystal Tokyo -  
possibly irretrievably. And still, she hadn't been able to talk to the Princess, because she hadn't had the necessary proof of her identity yet. That was about to change, though.  
  
Setsuna adjusted the handkerchief tied around her head and carefully climbed up the drainpipe of the Tsukino home. The little black cat in the window miya'd loudly and ran into her target's room. "Hope the door's closed," she muttered. Talking some sense into that damn cat would be difficult.  
  
With a final grunt, Setsuna flipped herself over the windowsill and fell with a thump to the floor. She froze for a second,  
listening to hear if anyone noticed the sound. She breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
The cat miyah'ed again. "Dammit, Luna, shut up." she whispered harshly. "I need to speak to you." The cat stared at her, slightly confused, then backed away. "Ah, hell," Setsuna grumbled, then grabbed a pillowcase from Usagi's bed. She quickly scooped up the cat and stuffed it in the pillowcase before it could do anything, and lightly slid down the drainpipe,  
which came loose and fell off the house noisily. Setsuna landed on Luna.  
  
"YOOOWWWWLLL!" the cat screeched, and clawed Setsuna.  
  
"Ow! Damnit!" she yelled, then saw Mrs. Tsukino opening the door.  
  
"Ahh! Thief!" the woman yelled, chasing Setsuna off with a broomstick. "Thief! Thief!" Setsuna ran as only the mortally embarrassed can.  
  
Ami finished listening to the tape for the fourth time, and began to write. 'Happousai. Kasumi. Akane. Ryouga. Check. We could also squeeze this 'Ukyou' for information, or bug her shop. It would be easier to keep tabs on this 'Ranma' than having Umino spend every day after school there.' She set down the pencil and sighed. This was not how the fights were supposed to go. Enemies hadn't attacked in groups, or employed spies, they sure as heck hadn't subverted the Senshi -  
the thought of Saturn being on their side was frightening, and Pluto was an unknown, having vanished around the same time Saturn showed up on the wrong side. If both of them had been turned...  
  
Ami shuddered.  
  
On the other hand, this was her kind of fight. She had always been weak in combat, but her information gathering skills were second to none. Or at least, second to none among the good guys. These enemies had somehow found out their home phone numbers... which meant they had their addresses. From that point on every Senshi slept with their eyes half-open. So Ami had to built a information net just as good, and fast.  
  
That meant putting a spy in the bad guy's camp. But who? Ami shook her head. That would be a tough one.  
  
'Now to review what I know of the Enemy,' she thought.  
'Goal: apparently to take over the Earth. Power: very strong magic - possibly Ginshizhou level? Methods - organized group assaults, preplanned, suprise, ambush, unconventional tactics'  
Ami reflected on that. The Senshi had been having a hard time with just the grunt level troops, because of that. They knew that the higher level enemies were far stronger - Mamoru had been protected by all kinds of Silver Millenium magical shields, yet he had switched genders without any resistance whatsoever from those shields.  
  
The Senshi should be dead, then, if that was their target. So why weren't they? Ami considered that very carefully. 'Are they just pinning us down?' That seemed the most likely explanation.  
But if they were really after world domination, then they'd want to take the Senshi off the playing field first. So they weren't after the world domination... unless...  
  
Ami picked up her pen again. 'Possible allies? Beyond Amazons/Musk/Phoenix People? Enemy does not want us to find, and is keeping us separate?' That would have to be looked in to.  
  
The other possibility was that they weren't after world domination at all, just either control of part of the world for some reason, or were searching for something. If it was the latter, the Senshi would have to find out what and destroy it.  
She didn't hold any illusions of being able to take it and keep it away from these enemies.  
  
Ami tapped her fingers on her desk, then pulled out a fresh sheet of paper. Carefully clipping letters from her magazines,  
she began to compose a letter to Ukyou.  
  
Nabiki continued to laze on the beach, waited on hand and foot,  
and brought reports by her crawling army of informers. Life was good, and her magic powerful enough to keep Shanghai permanently warm and sunny.  
  
Hotaru walked up to the front door of Haruka and Michiru's house, still in her normal-looking black dress, and rapped on the door. She stood slightly out of the way of the peephole, so they couldn't see her face.  
  
The door opened. "Hello!" the green-haired girl cheerfully said,  
before noticing their visitor. "You look-" WHAM.  
  
Hotaru cracked her knuckles as Michiru flew limply back into the house. "You aren't much without your magic, are you?"  
Haruka came running, shouting angrily.  
  
"Hey! You'll pay for that, you maniac!" She drew back one fist,  
which fired out at the face of their surprise assailant. The fist met one finger in midair and stopped as if it had hit a wall.  
  
"You don't know what you're dealing with, do you?" Hotaru said, grinning. Her 'Dark Senshi' outfit, unlike Ranma's, was just an alteration of the real thing, and still had the disguise field. She was throwing away that advantage now, but she really didn't care. This was fun.  
  
"Huh?" Haruka said. Hotaru's hand closed over Haruka's and her hand shot out, covering Haruka's face and holding it in an iron grip. "Murrggr!" Hotaru walked Haruka out of the room,  
looking like it was some bizzare waltz.  
  
"This is payback, one thousand years delayed," Hotaru said,  
conversationally, as she pushed Haruka back towards the bathroom. "I remember the Silver Millennium very well. There wasn't a whole lot going for it.. but you and Little Miss Neptune over there were the worst of the lot."  
  
Haruka's eyes popped open. "Mmm! Sttrn!" Her hand started poking through her pockets, trying to find something. Hotaru's leg shot through a quick arc and blasted into her gut, however,  
putting an end to that. With the wind thoroughly blasted out of her lungs, Haruka collapsed onto the floor, gasping.  
  
Hotaru picked up Haruka and shoved her head in the toilet,  
then flushed. Michiru stumbled into the bathroom, holding a baseball bat in one hand and her broken nose in the other. She shot Hotaru a murderous glare. Hotaru just smirked back.  
  
Michiru came in, baseball bat held overhead in a manner that suggested the violinist had taken some kendo lessons once upon a time.Hotaru met the bat with a hard right - a foolish move, if she were human - and splintered the bat. Again her leg swung out, lightning fast, and blasted the air out of a Senshi.  
  
"Whooof!" Michiru grunted, as she was thrown backwards through the door. Hotaru grabbed one of their decorative vases and clouted her over the head with it, sending pieces of expensive pottery everywhere and Michiru into dreamland.  
  
"WORLD SHAKING!" was cried out from behind, at about the same time that a ball of magical force jumped from the ground and sent Hotaru flying. Hotaru moved with the blast,  
summoning her own powers and adding them to the blow,  
flying through a wall like a human missile. It shattered into pieces of drywall and wood, dumping junk across the motorcycle Hotaru slammed into. Quickly jumping to her feet,  
she hefted the Yamaha and chucked it back trough the hole she just made.  
  
As Sailor Uranus deftly avoided the flying motorcycle, Hotaru waved her hand, summoning up the spell a lesser sorcerer would need to name: Diem Wind. Caught in midair, Haruka turned into a human missile as well, destroying another wall and ending up back in the toilet. She shakily got up from the smashed porcelain, as water gurgled everywhere. 'Damn,  
there's no way...' she thought, and quickly activated the communicator as she dodged into the shower. "Usagi!" she hissed. "Drop whatever you're doing and get the others here.  
One of those damn mazoku is trashing my house. Neptune's down. Over." She clicked it shut, then glanced out into the wrecked bathroom. She saw Hotaru kick Michiru in the ribs,  
making sure she was really unconscious.  
  
Hotaru gave Michiru one more kick, just for meanness's sake,  
and walked confidently towards the bathroom. The other Senshi should know something was up, by now; pretty soon she'd have a major battle on her hands. She was pretty sure she could knock out Uranus and leave the Senshi a pretty unmistakeable message before they arrived, though.  
  
Haruka timed her jump well, flying at Hotaru with a flawless jump kick that was rendered irrelevant by the fact that hitting Hotaru was like hitting a steel statue, except Hotaru hit back.  
Hotaru summoned the Silence Glaive, swatted another Earth Shaking aside, blowing up the sink and sending two more fountains to help the swiftly growing lake they were fighting in,  
and blocked the Space Sword with the staff of the Glaive,  
forcing Haruka back with her superior strength. "You're not going to win this fight." Hotaru stated, giving Haruka a stiff shove and pushing her back into the shower. Hotaru kicked the Space Sword out of her hand before she could bring it to bear again, then slammed the girl into the wall, choking her with the Glaive.  
  
Hotaru smiled as Haruka was pinned to the shower wall, trying to loosen the pressure on her neck. Hotaru relaxed a little when she saw Haruka's smile and attempt to speak, out of curiousity.  
Haruka gave a weak grin. "Normally.. I'd like it.. if a pretty girl.. pinned me to the shower wall.." Hotaru's face quickly clouded over. 'That was the best blow I've landed all fight'  
Haruka thought, just before a fist sent her head through the wall and blackness overtook her.  
  
The Senshi arrived to the Outer's home to find the door still open and the place ominously quiet, except for the burble of water. They walked in carefully through the open door.  
"Michiru! Haruka!" Moon yelled, seeing them tied up in the middle of the room. They tried untying the knots, which didn't quite work, as they had been pulled inhumanly tight. Makoto found the Space Sword, however, and that made short work of the ropes.  
  
The Outers still slumped to the floor, out cold. "Concussions."  
Mercury said, checking the two of them. "Broken nose on Michiru, going to be some bruising on Haruka, though not as bad - she was in her Senshi form for most of it, I think. Let's get them upstairs." Mercury then froze the water leaking out from the bathroom. It was a temporary fix, but it would stop the water from completely ruining the carpets.  
  
"What about the enemy?" Rei asked crossly.  
  
"Nothing picked up on the Mercury computer. Whoever did this is gone." Mercury answered crisply. 'Damn, this is exactly what I feared. They know where we live, and they have all the advantages of surprise. We're going to need to talk about this'  
Trouble was, she couldn't handle all the thinking by herself,  
and... Usagi was just too much of a meatball head to understand.  
  
Setsuna was on the roof of a shop in Juuban, talking to a cat,  
explaining why she was a sailor suited warrior of love and justice, and not a thief as she appeared at first glance. "Do you understand now?" Setsuna said, exasperated.  
  
"How do I know you're not an enemy?" Luna asked suspiciously, for about the thousandth time.  
  
Setsuna repressed the urge to strangle the cat. Barely. "I am not an enemy! I've described the Silver Millennium in detail to you, you lousy piece of flea bait!"  
  
The cat's tail flicked to the side. "Perhaps, but the Enemy," -  
the capitalization was audible - "has captured Hotaru. They would know all about the Silver Millennium as well."  
  
Setsuna counted to ten, then tried a different tack. "Then have Usagi use the crystal to give my powers back. If nothing happens, you'll know I'm not Sailor Pluto."  
  
Luna pointed out what seemed to be a hole in that argument.  
"But if you're with the enemy, then we'll be giving you your powers back."  
  
Setsuna was momentarily stunned by the colossal illogic of that statement. This time, she didn't resist the urge to throttle the cat. "THEN WHY THE HELL WOULD THEY LOCK MY POWERS?" she yelled, blasting Luna's fur back as if she were in a hurricane.  
  
"...I'll see what I can do." Luna meekly answered.  
  
Ranma smiled as he saw the subject of his search come in to view. Ryouga was hard to find; he'd have even considered calling him impossible to find, except for the obvious fact that he had found him. Well, stumbled across him, at any rate.  
Ryouga had backtracked often, made random, impossible to predict turns and had generally navigated like blind hikers with a GPS on the fritz. While Ryouga at times appeared to be attempting to head towards Nerima, it was only the fact that Ranma knew it was the only place Ryouga would want to go that revealed Ryouga's destination.  
  
Currently, Ryouga was on Shikoku, having somehow managed to avoid activating his curse on the way to the island. It was only the magical signature of that curse, his rather impressive aura of despair, and not a small amount of luck that had led Ranma to this small campfire in the wilds. Ranma watched Ryouga start to cook his dinner, and silently melted into the shadows, becoming insubstantial. He crept closer to the flame,  
tripping Ryouga's danger senses, but Ryouga didn't see him as he glanced around. Human eyes were made for seeing people,  
not insubstantial shadows.  
  
Ryouga shifted uneasily and started looking for the stars -  
whether for navigation or just gathering his thoughts, Ranma didn't know - but the canopy of brancehes overhead only let the light of a few stars through. The pig-cursed boy turned back to the fire with a sigh.  
  
"Akane.. if only I could be with you..." he said, tinging his words with a tasty shot of depression. "Damn Ranma! He showed himself to be the demon I always thought he was! Until I learn a new move, some new secret that will let me kill the demon and free you..." Ryouga stopped his righteous declaration and hit himself in the head. "Baka baka baka! I sounded like Kuno there..." A sharp hiss reminded him of his food. "Hey, it looks about ready."  
  
Ranma coiled towards Ryouga, rising from the ground in an impressive and unnecessary display. The jumping shadows from the campfire leapt around the rising blackness and faded out,  
revealing the smirking, hovering form of Ranma Metallium. 'I am just too cool.' he thought to himself with a smirk.  
  
"Smells good, P-chan. What's cooking?" he said, exchanging the smug smirk for a truly insufferable grin.  
  
"RANMA!" Ryouga shouted angrily. He jumped up and yanked his umbrella off the top of his pack, readying himself for combat.  
  
"Oh please." Ranma snickered. "What could you possibly do to me? Fighting you would be an incredible bore right now. Wait,  
I've got an idea. Usually you'd burst into my room and try to kill me for some stupid reason, and I'd easily defeat your clumsy attempt. Let's see what happens if you're the one on the defensive." Ranma said, seeming to dismiss Ryouga as he talked to the air.  
  
"Ahh.." Ryouga said, perplexed.  
  
Ranma suddenly reversed himself, flying at Ryouga at impossible speed. "Ryouga! Prepare to DIE!"  
  
"Gah!" Ryouga siad, flinching aside at the last second. Ranma's fist shot by at about Warp 5, creating a small sonic boom and tearing several bandannas off his head by the force of the breeze it generated. 'He's even MORE powerful now!' Ryouga thought, panicking. He and everyone else hadn't been able to beat up Ranma before. How the heck was he supposed to get rid of him now?  
  
Ranma smirked again, causing this question to fly out of Ryouga's mind. Instead, he wordlessly screamed and thrust his umbrella straight ahead, only to hit air as Ranma vanished completely milliseconds before the umbrella hit. Ryouga stumbled forwards and looked around for his vanished opponent. His eyes locked onto another lightning fast punch just before it impacted his head.  
  
Ranma punched Ryouga into a tree as if he were a rag doll,  
causing the tree to shudder and dump a load of leaves on the fighters. An angry squirrel bounced off of Ryouga's head and chattered as it searched for safer ground. Ranma smiled as Ryouga got up. "You overextended yourself! Stupid student!"  
Ranma sternly said, mocking Ryouga.  
  
Ryouga shook his head, focusing on Ranma. He dimly heard Ranma's words, which further enraged him. "I'm not your student, you dishonorable rat!" Ryouga dropped his umbrella and charged Ranma, who stood his ground this time. Every time he launched a punch or kick, a hand lazily reached out and flicked it away. Ranma's smile never vanished as he danced around Ryouga, impossible to hit and just out of reach. Ryouga eventually stopped to take a breath. Ranma assumed his midair meditative pose.  
  
"Ranma.." Ryouga said, earning a more attentive look from the pigtailed boy, "since when have you been this good?"  
  
Ranma smiled. "Simple. My whole life I've been taught the Art.  
A good deal of the Art involves making use of one's ki."  
Ryouga nodded; no one human could do what they did and not use ki. "Mazoku don't have ki."  
  
"Then how could you..?" Ryouga asked, jerking in surprise.  
  
"Mazoku are far more powerful than mere humans. Mazoku are energy. It's just that I have a lot more nowadays. With every little bit of power, I grow faster. Stronger. Better. While you will grow old and shrivelled, even as you gain greater mastery over your ki."Ryouga growled and glowed with anger. "Yeah,  
go ahead and get mad. Give me more power."  
  
The aura snapped out of existence around Ryouga. "So I don't have any chance to beat you." Ryouga stared at Ranma. "That doesn't change anything, Ranma! If I can't kill you, I'll die trying!" He rushed at Ranma again, this time without his trademark berserk fury. Again Ranma taunted him with that cruel little smirk, but he restrained himself. He and Ranma danced around the fire again, without a single punch landing like last time. "Dammit Ranma! Fight me for real!" he shouted,  
his voice betraying the anger he wasn't showing.  
  
"That's Akane's line, P-chan. Better not tell her you used it or she might cook you dinner!" Ranma taunted. Sure enough,  
Ryouga's barely-there restraint broke once again. "Pitiful."  
Ranma summed up, losing his smile. He grabbed Ryouga's next punch and pulled him forward. A fist slammed into Ryouga's gut with the force of hundreds of his old punches.  
  
Ryouga staggered back, coughing up blood. "You can't rely on your toughness anymore, pig. Get up." Ranma punctuated his command with a kick to the chin, whipping in so fast that Ryouga didn't even have time to block. "Your defenses are nonexistent!" Ranma shouted as he leapt in to rain punches upon Ryouga's face. He ducked under one of Ryouga's punches and threw him over his shoulder. "You overcommit to your attacks!" Ryouga jumped up to his feet only to be swept off them again. "Your balance sucks!" With a feral roar,  
Ryouga jumped up to tackle Ranma, who easily caught him in midair. "And most of all, you have no style!" Ranma threw him in the fire.  
  
Ryouga screamed and jumped out, rolling around on the ground. "C'mon, student, the fun's just begun!"  
  
"I'm not your student!" the battered and burnt Ryouga snarled from the ground.  
  
"Oh? Then why am I taking you to school?" Ranma inquired.  
Ryouga growled again and sprung back up. He charged at Ranma and the fight was rejoined.  
  
Ami walked into the Okonomiyaki Ucchan's in her senshi uniform. It was hidden under the trench coat and hat she was wearing, but the powerful disguise field was a happy tool for her to have, even if the rest of her 'disguise' made her look like an escapee from a bad detective movie. She sat at the counter and smiled at the chef. She was the only customer in at the moment.  
  
Ukyou shot her a hard look, one full of unhappy powerlessness.  
Apparently, her friend had neglected to provide her with magical power, unlike that Akane girl down the street. That was a lucky omission on the part of their enemy. "You know why I'm here." Ami said, conversationally.  
  
"Yes." Cold. Hateful.  
  
"You know what I'll do if you decline my offer." Ami stated.  
She didn't even bother pretending it was a question.  
  
"Yes."  
  
Ami smiled. It was not a nice smile. It should have never graced the lips of a Senshi - unless that Senshi were the enigmatic Pluto or the rogue Saturn. "Then you are prepared to cooperate with us on this matter?"  
  
Uykou glared at Ami with a fiery hatred. "Yes."  
  
"Good, then. I would like you to start by telling me everything you know about.. Ranma." She pulled a tape recorder out of her pocket briefly to turn it on - just enough of a glimpse to let her know she was being recorded. "If you answer untruthfully, I will find out."  
  
Ukyou sighed and mentally travelled back to those long ago years of her youth, and a pigtailed little boy named Ranma.  
  
At the Hiwaka Shrine, the Senshi were assembled in their fukus.  
Confronting them was a green-haired woman in casual clothing standing behind Luna. Even Mamoru was in her new fuku state,  
the Senshi deciding that they would need the extra power,  
especially as Ami was skipping on them, citing 'important unavoidable business'.  
  
Sailor Moon stepped forward, even as the other Senshi fanned out to be further apart to prevent multiple Senshi from being hit if the woman was hostile. They also were standing so as to not interfere with one another.  
  
Losing is the most effective teacher of them all.  
  
"You really have nothing to fear." their guest said, remaining remarkably calm and confident in the face of this sort of firepower. Too calm, in fact, for one Senshi.  
  
The still-hurting Sailor Uranus raised her hands in preparation for an attack. "She's too calm! She has to be an enemy!"  
  
Sailor Moon held up a hand to quiet her. "Maybe, maybe not.  
We have to give her that chance."  
  
"She'll kill us all!" Uranus said, sounding not entirely in her right mind.  
  
"Just hold your fire." Sailor Moon said, then summoned up her healing powers. "Moon.. Healing.. Escalation!" she shouted,  
swirling around and gesturing with her wand. A bright, blinding light briefly dazzled the Senshi before their vision returned.  
  
"AHHHH!!!" screamed the voice of their guest, now spasming as a war between white and black lighting seared across her body. She was now dressed in the familiar fuku of Pluto,  
however.  
  
"Well, she was Pluto after all." Luna murmered, watching the twitching Senshi.  
  
"What's going on? What's happening?" Sailor Moon shrieked,  
not understanding at all what was going on with Setsuna. She started to reach forward when a loud BANG sounded and Setsuna's body jumped on the floor. Tendrils of smoke wafted from the now ominously still Senshi, as if she were a robot that had shorted out.  
  
"Is she dead?" Minako said tentatively.  
  
"Of all the nights for Ami to skip out on us!" Rei groused,  
before taking Setsuna's pulse. "She's out cold but alive."  
  
"I wonder what that was, then?" Jupiter asked. No one had a good answer.  
  
Ranma felt a jolt of pain as he sat down, waiting for the currently unconscious Ryouga to revive so he could kick his ass again. "Shit, seems someone found Pluto again. P-chan will have to wait." It would be a while before he woke up anyhow.  
Ranma vanished onto the Astral plane, instantly moving back to Tokyo and following the thin tendril of power connecting Pluto to the Gates of Time. Using his not inconsiderable power, he began the arduous task of severing the link. He was soon joined by Hotaru, whom he summoned, in this task. Still, it would be nearly an hour before they finished the task. They could only hope that Pluto had gotten help from the Senshi and not Cologne or some other force. Ranma might be immune to the effects of the Gates, but they would still be an unacceptable tool for the Senshi to possess.  
  
Ami walked out of the Ucchan's, satisfied that she had received an accurate account of Ranma's activities - at least everything that Ukyou knew of, anyhow. She began walking towards the Tendo dojo. With the confirmation of the identity of Ranma's other lieutenant, she felt it was more important than ever to have an ear or two in the Tendo home.  
  
Strand after strand of the spells that bound Sailor Pluto to the Time Gate came loose under the relentless assault of Ranma and Hotaru. It was a literal race against the clock, and the clock - Sailor Pluto - could pop back to the time gate and mess up their plans royally at any moment. It wasn't through manipulating the timestream, although Ranma and Hotaru wouldn't rule out the possibility of her breaking the rules about time travel in their cases. It was the fact that the unpredictability would be removed from their actions and those of the senshi.  
That was in direct contradiction to their orders.  
  
Hotaru, unlike Nabiki, you see, knew the whole story behind Ranma's orders. She had beaten it out of him after his reappearance for giving her such a scare.  
  
Even now, as the strands connecting Pluto to the Gates of Time were halfway severed, they could feel the connection becoming more active.  
  
"Oww..." Sailor Pluto said, grabbing her head. She cradled it gently, as if it were made of glass and might fall and shatter if she let go. "My HEAD..."  
  
"I'll get some asprin!" Minako said cheefully, and fairly ran to the medicine cabinet. They had painkillers in all varieties these days.  
  
Sailor Moon held up three fingers in front of Pluto. "How many fingers am I holding up?" she asked.  
  
Sailor Pluto looked blearily in Moon's general direction. "I can't see. Everything's all bright and flashy."  
  
"She acts like she has a concussion." Sailor Jupiter said,  
thinking of an incident when she was training.  
  
"She acts like she had a hangover." Rei sniped. Everyone looked at her. "What?"  
  
The Senshi shook their heads in unison and turned back to Setsuna, leaving Rei to sweat a little in embarrassment.  
  
Ranma and Hotaru quickly redoubled their efforts, ripping through the pulsing strands of magic like nitro-boosted chainsaws.  
  
Pluto's headache worsened, even after the asprin. They had laid her down on a spare futon and turned off the lights. Only a flashlight with a rag thrown over it provided dim light in the room.  
  
"What do you suppose is wrong?" Minako asked Usagi before remembering to keep it down. A pained moan escaped Pluto's lips as her head pounded from the sudden noise. The Senshi had detransformed earlier, deeming Pluto a good guy. The resulting light show had nearly knocked Pluto out again.  
  
"I don't know." Usagi whispered back, very softly. "I really REALLY wish Ami were here. She's the one who knows about this kind of thing."  
  
"But she's got a headache in her Senshi form. I don't know about you, but usually if I have a headache and transform, it goes away." Rei whispered, joining the conversation.  
  
The Senshi returned to their troubled watch of their reclaimed Senshi.  
  
With one last effort, the two mazoku severed the last little bit of energy connecting Sailor Pluto to the Gates of Time. Mentally giving each other a high five, the two returned to the material plane, Hotaru following Ranma back to Ryouga's campsite.  
  
"He's gone. We should go find him again. After all, he has a role in my plan to fulfill."  
  
"That of practice dummy?" Hotaru said, smirking.  
  
"No, just dummy. And wipe that smirk off your face. I'm going to teach you, too."  
  
Hotaru grumbled at that one. "Why? I'm pretty skilled at martial arts myself, you know. I still remember the Saturn Star-  
Fist school from the Silver Millenium, you know."  
  
"I know. I can still beat you easy in a fight, though. And I don't want that."  
  
"You want me to be able to beat you?" Saturn said,  
incredulously.  
  
"I just want a sparring partner." Ranma said, shrugging.  
  
"Oh."  
  
"I'm not asking you to abandon your school, just to practice with me." Ranma said, as they followed the path of bad intentions Ryouga had blazed.  
  
As if the suffering were shut off by a switch, Sailor Pluto convulsed once, then had a peaceful look come over her face.  
"Now is she dead?" Rei asked, fearfully.  
  
A snore answered her from the bed. "No, she's asleep."  
Mamoru said, still female and slightly angry. She grabbed Pluto's shoulder. "Wake up!"  
  
Pluto's eyes opened slowly, as if she were awakening from a long slumber. She looked at each of the Senshi, one after the other. "Where am I?"  
  
"Do you have any idea how he does this?" Hotaru asked, as they passed a ramen hut for the second time. According to the stars, their maps, and the fact that Ryouga had apparently simply smashed through all obstacles in a straight line, they hadn't walked in a circle or even deviated from a heading of due west. Yet they were passing the same ramen hut.  
  
"I dunno. This directional curse goes a bit deeper than I thought it did. It's like he's warping space or something." Ranma deftly snagged two bowls of ramen and tossed some money. They didn't need the ramen, but it was sort of comforting in a way, a reminder of their past existence.  
  
"I hope we run into the jerk soon." Hotaru grumbled. Beating the snot out of Ryouga would be highly entertaining for a while.  
Playing conqueror, on the other hand, wasn't. "What are we going to do after we get the ball rolling?"  
  
"Well, we need to shore up the Senshi and stuff. They're all still being stupid and relying on their magic. It's really slow going with them. We're going to have to up the pressure on them, or something, and force them to make changes, it looks like."  
Ranma slurped up the rest of his ramen and wiped his mouth off on his sleeve. "That's why we're chasing Ryouga, after all. I want to drive home the fact that he can't win without magic home. Hopefully he'll catch the hint and go track down.. er.  
run into the Senshi."  
  
Hotaru blinked. "So you're saying that you're chasing one of the most dense people on earth, to beat him up and get a point through his skull, so he can find some other incredibly dense people, when he can't find his ass with both hands and a mirror,  
so he can convince them to abandon their current tactics?"  
  
"Ah, yeah, that's about the size of it." Ranma said. Put that way, it did sound kind of stupid.  
  
"I thought alcohol didn't affect mazoku." Hotaru said lightly,  
rolling her eyes.  
  
"Well, I didn't hear you give any suggestions, and I'm kind of short on ideas. Nothing seems to faze them." Ranma said,  
gloomily. He loathed feeling dumb, but he hadn't a clue what to do with the senshi.  
  
Hotaru and Ranma walked in silence for a while longer. "I've got an idea!" Hotaru said, snapping her fingers.  
  
"What?" Ranma said. He could almost see the light bulb pop into place over Hotaru's head.  
  
Hotaru clicked her nails on her teeth for a second as she thought of how to start her plan. With anyone else, the question would be insane, but... "Ranma, do you know Martial Arts Stenography?"  
  
Ranma blinked. "Yeah. Once Genma got busted for public intoxication and I got challenged by the court reporter-" Hotaru held up a hand.  
  
"I don't want the whole story. OK, we need to get a typewriter..." They picked up a typewriter in the next town and started writing.  
  
It was a few days later that Ami was walking around in a newly opened bookstore. She was amazed at how fast the bookstore had been completed; one night, it was an empty warehouse, the next morning, it was a giant bookstore. It was apparently run by those Amazon refugees from China. As such, she figured they weren't going to be helping the bad guys.  
  
A book caught her eye. It was titled, "Tactics and Strategy for Dummies", written by one Hotaru Tomoe. Ami picked it up.  
Emblazoned on the cover was 'Don't be a Senshi! Fight smart'  
She turned beet red. The book went in her basket, though.  
  
'How dare they make such accusations against us!' she fumed.  
'Though, now that I think about it, I was complaining last week that we weren't thinking things through enough. Still! They have NO RIGHT to criticize us!'  
  
Ami walked through the store, ignoring the other books on her way to the counter. She'd have to buy the book so she could rip it to shreds in front of the others. "I'd like to buy this, please."  
she asked of the counter clerk. She had the weirdest orange hair and her name.. Floss? Who named their kid Floss? Maybe her father was a demented dentist.  
  
"Nihao! Welcome to Amazon Bookstore, how Floss help?"  
  
Ami slapped down a wad of bills - exact change, plus tax. "I'd like to buy this book-"  
  
"Blue-hair girl have Amazon Bookstore Book Club Card?"  
Floss asked, streaming rays of uber-kawaii from her smile. Ami was mentally staggered by the sheer cuteness.  
  
"Um, no, I-"  
  
"Club Card only 1,000 yen! Is good price, yes?"  
  
"Ah, I'm really not-"  
  
The girl pulled a really big sword out of nowhere. "Floss think blue-hair girl really want Club Card. Is Floss right?" Ami smiled nervously and shoved 1,000 more yen at the cashier. The girl handed her a book club card, which she signed. She grabbed her book and fled the store before she ended up buying anything else.  
  
Floss waved to the fleeing girl. "Bai-bai, honor customer! Come back again!"  
  
Nabiki rested in her private, luxurious plane. It had - before she got creative with her magic - been a Boeing, freshly delivered from Seattle, which she had intercepted before it reached the airline. Now, it was a flying palace, opulently appointed, and her current headquarters. She drummed her fingers nervously.  
Taking out China and sweeping into Central Asia had made people nervous. Pyongyang's fall made them noisy. Strike at the Persian Gulf and those rattling sabers might be drawn. Of course, she had unlimited numbers of soldiers, and her troops were tougher, more loyal, and more vicious than their opponents, but the weapons of modern war weren't free.  
  
Currently, the mess in Afghanistan was distracting much of the world's attention. She had that going for her, at least. And Iran and Iraq had the advantages of being unloved states. But still...  
  
It might be the lynchpin of the world, and a plum assignment,  
but stealing the world's oil supplies would be difficult. Unless...  
  
Nabiki popped open one of the books on black magic Ranma had lent her and started looking for methods of transmuting materials. She might need some help on this one, too. Rouge and Tarou - whom she had, in contradiction to Ranma's orders,  
extended the pledge of immortality to, not killed and turned him into a mazoku - might be needed to help. Tarou's studies were coming along nicely in black magic anyhow. That, and he seemed to revel in the thought of cursing Happousai.  
  
Nabiki's fingers slid over the pages, searching for the right kind of spell. There were so many of them...  
  
"Serenity-sama!" Setsuna called out, running up to Usagi, then kneeling. "What would you command your humble servant to do?" The former Guardian of Time and now full time Sailor Suited Warrior of Love and Justice, Setsuna Meiou, waited patiently for Usagi's reply.  
  
Usaig sweated. This was weird. "Er.. I was just dropping by to see how you were doing."  
  
Setsuna answered, still not looking up. "I feel fine, Serentity-  
sama."  
  
"Um. Don't call me that. Talk to me like you would.. your sister!" Usagi said, brightening.  
  
"I feel fine, My Sister!" (1)  
  
"Er.. on second thought, don't do that."  
  
"As you wish, Serenity-sama!" she replied ferverently.  
  
"Uh.. so.." Usagi sweated some more. How was she to get Setsuna to act.. normal?  
  
Ami laid back in her Lay-Z-Boy recliner and wrapped up the new book she had purchased. Another empty box of Pocky landed on the floor, next to several of its close friends and relatives. There was so much stuff she had never thought of here.  
  
Ami slipped on a coat and returned to the Amazon bookstore,  
returning with a copy of the Prince, a few books on modern international relations, and an armload of junk the cashier had forced on her. "Damn book nazi." she muttered as she returned home, now reloaded for another round of studying.  
  
Ryouga was finally found swimming in a stream. His pack,  
clothes, and a steaming kettle of water waited at the edge of the stream. Ranma picked up the kettle and started to pour it into the stream. "Damn pigs, leaving their trash everywhere!" he called out, as Hotaru grinned mischeviously and started to ball up the Lost Boy's clothes. The outraged squeal from a swimming piglet sounded from the water, and a ferocious,  
angry, tiny piglet flew out of the water to be spiked into the gravel by Ranma. Ranma threw the rest of the hot water on him.  
  
"Gleep!" Ryouga said, noticing Hotaru for the first time. He covered himself. Ranma took his clothes out of Hotaru's hands and tossed them to the mortally embarrassed boy. He pulled his pants on with lightning speed.  
  
"He's smaller than you." Hotaru said. Ranma blinked for a moment before blushing bright red. Ryouga got red too, but for a different reason.  
  
"Ranma!" he shouted, only to get cut off by Ranma.  
  
"Oh no! You aren't blaming me at all for this one!" Ranma shouted back. He then turned to Hotaru. "And how do you know? You.. you spied on me!"  
  
Ryouga growled, a bass rumble that shook bones. "Ranma-"  
  
"Quiet, you."  
  
"Actually, I just bought pictures from Nabiki."  
  
"Nabiki? Nabiki!"  
  
"Ranma!"  
  
Both mazoku turned on him. "Shut up!" Ryouga stumbled back to fall on his ass.  
  
"She's selling pictures of me?" Ranma asked, annoyed. "Still?"  
Hotaru nodded. "Man! Why me?" Ranma stomped in circles, as Ryouga and Hotaru silently watched. "I'm going to get her for that. I really am. I have just the spell for it too. But revenge is a dish best served cold."  
  
"No it isn't!" Ryouga yelled, determined to fight Ranma about SOMETHING.  
  
"How would you know? You're an object lesson, hothead."  
Ranma snarled back.  
  
Ryouga leapt to his feet, somehow getting the setting sun to gleam painfully over his shoulder, and pointed dramatically.  
"No man has truly tasted venegance until he has quenched the fires of hate in the cooling entrails of his opponent!" Ranma blinked for a second. "Ha! Top that!"  
  
Hotaru applauded from the side. Ranma shot her a look.  
"Who's side are you on anyhow?"  
  
"Hey, that was pretty cool, you have to admit."  
  
Ranma racked his brains for a more dramatic reply, but failed to come up with anything. "I give up. I'm still a better martial artist, P-chan." Ryouga glowed again. "Heh, I'll wipe that off your face soon enough." They took up stances again. Hotaru stepped forward and slashed down with one hand.  
  
"Begin!"  
Sailor Mercury slipped silently across the rooftops of Nerima.  
She stared long at the oft-patched roof of the Tendo Dojo. This had been the last home of one enemy, and the current home of another. She fingered a small bug in one hand. It had been suprisingly easy to build with the help of the Mercury computer and a local electronics store. She idly wondered why they had all the necessary parts in bulk and the help winked when she bought them. Who would be building bugs in Nerima?  
  
Her original plan had been to confront the inhabitants about the evil demons they associated with, and squeeze them for information. She had discarded that after reading the book.  
They knew where the Senshi lived and could 'squeeze' them as well. So she had decided on this path.  
  
Wrapping a bandanna over her head, the newly sneaky Sailor Suited Warrior of Love and Justice slipped through an open upstairs window. Melted pile of plastic and metal apparently fused to a wooden floor, check. This was their enemy Nabiki's room. She silently stepped over to the closet and carefully rummaged through it, looking for useful things to steal. A book on black magic fell down; Mercury caught it before it hit the ground. Silently she began scanning pages into the Mercury Computer.  
  
'This thing is going to be so useful when I get to college'  
Mercury thought, smirking. She slipped one bug into a crack in the wall. It looked like the result of a poor patching job. 'Just what happened in this house anyhow?' Mercury silently finished her scanning job - the book wasn't that thick, and every page was thick, heavy parchment - and carefully placed the book back just as it had been. There was no way she would be detected.  
  
Half a world away, Nabiki idly looked up and noted that someone had entered her room. Probably Kasumi again. She had told her sister that she'd clean the mess out of her room herself, but Kasumi had given her five false alarms this week alone. She glanced at the clock and nodded, then returned to reading.  
  
Mercury found an entire boxful of bugs in the closet. 'Jackpot'  
she thought, then started wondering where they had been placed. 'I'm going to have to search everyone's house, or tell them to, at any rate. Wonderful.' She carefully snipped certain important wires in the bugs anyhow, in case they hadn't gotten around to bugging the Senshi's houses yet.  
  
Mercury slipped back out the window and onto the roof. Let's see, youngest daughter in dojo, oldest in kitchen, old men on porch. Time to bug another bedroom. A cane rapped on her shoulder.  
  
Mercury started violently and dropped a few bugs on the roof.  
"Startled you, didn't I?" a small, shrivelled little man said.  
"What are you doing? Planting bugs for Nabiki?" he added.  
  
"Well, no..." Mercury said, uncertain of what do do. Happousai was a renowned pervert and panty thief. Would he give her away?  
  
Happousai looked at the frozen girl and raised an eyebrow.  
"Planting bugs on Nabiki, eh? Well, I like your sense of style.  
So I'll forgive you if you let me have a nice cry in your bosom!"  
The pervert jumped towards her with a lecherous grin.  
  
"Ack! Die!" Mercury said, her blood running cold. She held up her hand and froze the little creep in a huge block of ice. She looked at her hand in wonder. "I didn't use an attack.. how did I...?" She quickly glanced at the pervert. "I wonder?" Picking up the iced pervert, she quickly vanished across the rooftops of Nerima.  
  
Ranma looked at the flattened body of Ryouga with disdain.  
"Pathetic." he said, kicking Ryouga against a large rock.  
Ryouga slumped over, his body propped up so he could still look at Ranma.  
  
"Shut up." Ryouga answered feebly. Ranma laughed.  
  
"I'd have Hotaru heal you, but I don't feel that nice." Ranma said, turning away from him. His eyes were closed and an insufferably smug grin was plastered on his face. "I'll tell you what. I'll cure your curse if you admit I'm the better martial artist."  
  
"You'll what?" Ryouga said, then the rest of what Ranma said caught up to him. "What? Never!" he said stubbornly.  
  
"Heh, have it your way, then." Ranma said, shrugging as he turned to Hotaru. "Maybe he doesn't mind his curse after all. I guess he doesn't care about Akane much either."  
  
Ryouga stopped cold. "What do you mean?" he asked,  
growling ferally.  
  
"I mean those Senshi girls roughed her up and might try it again."  
  
"They what?" Ryouga said, now in a towering rage.  
  
"They roughed her up some. You should go protect her. You're obviously incapable of getting your revenge on me as you are now anyhow. If you can defeat the Senshi, you might be able to actually hurt me."  
  
"Hey! You can't have me run off and fight your battles for you!" Ryouga yelled, as Ranma turned around.  
  
"Who's fighting? Either one of us could squash them like the roaches they are. " Hotaru said, smiling. Ryouga stared at her.  
  
"They bug us, so we bug them. But Akane's not as tough as we are, is she?" Ryouga clenched his fists in rage.  
  
"Fine. Which way is the Tendo Dojo?" Ryouga asked. The walk would give his bruises time to heal.  
  
"It's thataway." Ranma said, pointing across the stream. Ranma walked over to it and into it. "Of course it's over the stream.  
You're cursed, aren't you. What a foolish question." Ryouga growled again before noticing something.  
  
'He IS cured!' Ryouga thought, watching Ranma walk off with his little sidekick. 'Damn you, Ranma! I'll find out your cure and use it myself! There will be a reckoning!'  
  
Mercury rushed back to the shrine in her shock at the new and unexpected way her powers had responded. "Instant, effortless attack," she thought, wondering at the instantaneous use of her powers. "No need for a complicated routine, just snap off an attack?" If she could replicate the feat - and the other Senshi could too - then they'd be able to concentrate more on running and ducking than they currently could. Against the mazoku, that might give them an edge. "Well, it will reduce our disadvantages some." Mercury said sourly.  
  
She leapt over the back wall and decided to test it out, as well as play a joke on Rei. Sneaking up on the raven-haired senshi,  
she concentrated and tried to visualize herself using a Shabon Spray. Nothing.  
  
Mercury concentrated for a moment, then began replaying the encounter with the old pervert. He had jumped, she had panicked, and frozen him into a ball of ice. Mercury nodded.  
She hadn't used any specific attack, merely summoned the appropriate element and shaped it to her panicked will.  
Summoning all the resolve and force of personality she could,  
Mercury forced her determination into her hand. A thick layer of ice quickly accumulated, and the air misted around the supercooled ice. Smiling, Ami walked forward, noticing how the mist vanished and the ice began to hurt whenever she lost concentration on maintaining the icy grip. But when she did concentrate and force it to bend to her will, the ice flexed and moved like a leather glove, and her hand was untouched by the intense cold. She smiled impishly and grabbed Rei's shoulder.  
  
"EEEEYAAAGH!" Rei screamed, managing to leap three feet in the air from a sitting position. Mercury detransformed and crossed her arms, willing the ice to vanish.  
  
"Hi Rei, how are you doing? A little cold out?" she teased.  
  
"You!" Rei yelled, fuming. Then she looked at Ami's face.  
"Why are you smiling like that? You've got the kind of smile that says I know something you don't, not a laughing smile."  
Rei's eyes dared Ami to contradict her.  
  
"I do know something you don't." Ami said, still smiling her secret smile.  
  
"Don't do that, you remind me of Setsuna." Rei said, slightly freaked out by the new Ami. "The old Setsuna, anyhow. The current one is too much of a sycophant to be such a secretive bitch."  
  
Ami cocked her head to the side, trying to think of a place safe enough to show Rei her new tricks. "Follow me." The two left for the empty school grounds.  
  
When they reached the school, Ami transformed and again exerted her will, forming a perfect sphere of ice in her hand.  
"That's neat." Rei said, watching it. "But what's the use?" Ami smiled again and then threw the ball at a convenient tree, willing it to explode.  
  
A muffled bang and sharp crack filled the schoolyard; swirling,  
concealing snow obscured their vision. When it cleared, the tree had cracked and split, obviously the work of ice and the source of the loud crack they had heard, and everything in a ten foot radius of the impact point was glazed in ice. "More impressive than I thought." Mercury mumbled.  
  
Rei didn't wait for an explanation. She immediately transformed and stared at her hand. After a few seconds the stare became a glare, then she started cursing and shaking her hand. "You can't just think it into existence. You have to force it to appear."  
  
And force it Mars did. Fuelled by anger and frustration, her hand caught fire with such force and fury as to drive Mercury back away from the scorching flames. Winding up as if for a softball pitch, Mars screamed and let the flames shoot out in a tight little ball, which exploded with far more force than Mercury's. The explosion knocked the two of them off their feet, blew the windows out of that side of the school, and set the top part of the tree and some of the grass - the stuff unprotected by a sacrificial layer of ice - began to burn. "Er.."  
Mars said, sheepishly. "We might want to get out of here."  
Mercury heartily agreed.  
  
Ranma and Hotaru stood at a crossroads in Japan. While walking along the road was a mere throwback to their mortal days, now that they could teleport, it was still something that Ranma had fond memories of doing. The road, after all, was his home. He had grown up here. For Hotaru, the open road was a symbol of freedom and adventure, having spent much of this life and the last cooped up and under guard. They were content to walk. They needed to kill time anyhow.  
  
"We've set things in motion so the Senshi should be kept busy anyhow, no matter where we are." Ranma said, reviewing his plans. They were simple, but the best plans were simple, he figured. "Now we need to paralyze the rest of the world and finish crumbling society into a perfect anarchy." Anarchy, after all, was analogous to the formless power mazoku craved; he would prefer it even ifhe didn't have merely personal reasons to hate one person controlling another. "Got any ideas?" Ranma asked, wondering what his lieutenant would come up with.  
  
"Build up our forces and teleport them everywhere. Just have them spread havoc, no front, no armies, just bands of destruction causing trouble. Smash everything; anything that survives is good, anything that doesn't was crap anyhow."  
Hotaru said, showing her faith in the destruction that was her birthright.  
  
"Feh, that's going too far." Ranma said, closing his eyes and looking smug. Hotaru frowned suddenly and wanted to slug the jerk. Her fingers tightened on her glaive, ready to brain him for his insensitivity. He had asked for her opinion; he could have declined it politely. Ranma, though, continued on, oblivious to the almost encounter with the wrong end of the Silence Glaive. "Once you rampage through an area, you just need to leave enough mindless goons in the area to prevent anyone else from taking over. Smashing everything would result in too much random death. Besides, then there wouldn't be much fun in the fight with the Senshi. They'd be trying to simply hang on,  
not attack us."  
  
Hotaru nodded, schooling her face. "We've got to step up production of Brass Demons, then." Ranma nodded. "How are we going to do it? No offense, but with only a handful of mazoku, how can we get enough?" Ranma smiled playfully.  
"You've got an idea?" she asked.  
  
"I've got an idea. Dunno if it will work." Ranma said. "We take a demon and dunk it in the Twins Spring. If that works, we start making more twins springs and multiply them. We'd have plenty of them that way."  
  
Hotaru's eyes widened as she thought of the geometric growth they'd have. Her campaign in Kazahkstan had used most of the Brass Demons they had at the time and were mostly tied up in the area. Nabiki's Nannichaun ants were numerous but vulnerable. Combine the numbers with power and...  
  
"I think you might be on to something." Hotaru breathed.  
  
"First things first, though. We've got to get the Senshi in power in Japan. I'm assigning the details of that to you, though don't'  
think I'm not going to stick around and help. I'll bring Rouge and Nabiki as well, later. It wouldn't help for the Senshi to get lucky and kill one of my team now, would it? Those two will wait in reserve until the Senshi react."  
  
"I'm all over it, Ranma." Hotaru said, snapping off a salute. She smiled wryly and relaxed. "I wonder how ironic the Senshi would find it if they knew we wanted them to build a Crystal Tokyo of a sort?"  
  
"Ironic?" Ranma snorted. "They'd probably find it horrifying."  
  
Setsuna and Usagi sat together, watching the news at Haruka and Michiru's house. The damage had been repaired, and they were holding a party to celebrate it. Ever since Mercury's new discovery about their magic, there was a new hope in the Senshi. Even if Usagi couldn't use her old attacks normally, she could now using the new method. Luna had said that was due to some kind of magical something or other that she had largely tuned out. Still, it gave them an advantage over the occasional demon attack.  
  
Usagi and Setsuna were watching the news for a simple reason:  
the rest of the world was going to hell in a handbasket. Hordes of demons had simply appeared out of nowhere and were ravaging vast stretches of the Earth. "I wish there were something we could do," Usagi said, plaintively, "but they're everywhere, even here in Japan."  
  
Setsuna nodded, watching the TV. "Yes, my queen. Even if they were rebels agaisnt the true authority of House Serenity and the Moon Kingdom, to see the Earth overrun by demons is distressing."  
  
"We need reinforcements. Good reinforcements." Ami said,  
making a point she had made all week. "We can't rely on the Amazons to help. They're far too weak magically, and magic is the only thing that really helps. All they're good for is fighting that Ryouga guy. The Musk at least have a bit of magic in them,  
but they can only assist us, not truly fight the things on their own. And the people of Phoenix Mountain, while more powerful and more numerous, aren't enough to even cover the Tokyo area. We can fight off the demons fair enough, but there's only nine of us, and I hesitate to say that we can take on the bosses of those things. We've tried it and got hammered before."  
  
The other Senshi, having heard versions of this speech all week,  
tuned it out. There wasn't anything they could do about it. Ami was the one with all the bright ideas. "If there were more of us,  
great. But there aren't." Jupiter said.  
  
Luna looked up. "More of you? Well.." Luna said, then shut up,  
apparently realizing something.  
  
Ami noticed it and bounded over to the black cat in a snap.  
Scooping up the moon cat, she glared at Luna. "Tell us."  
  
"It's quite dangerous, and led to all kinds of-"  
  
"Tell us!" Ami yelled. Luna's fur was blasted back by the yell,  
and she shuddered. Falling limp in Ami's hands, Luna explained.  
  
"Back in the Silver Millennium, there was worry about what would happen if a Senshi were to die before a replacement was available. While Queen Serenity could appoint someone else in their place, they wouldn't have the training or experience of an established Senshi. Believing this to be an unacceptable risk in case of war, Her Majesty ordered her scientists to come up with a method of providing extra senshi should the need ever arise,  
fully trained and with acceptable experience, on moment's notice."  
  
Ami digested this, then looked at Luna again. "And what was this method?"  
  
"I don't know." Luna answered. Ami only resisted the urge to strangle the cat by millimeters. All week she had been trying to come up with a solution to their problem and none had presented itself; now, when something useful was finally brought up, it was just a tantalizing hint and no more. Ami put Luna down and began to pace around.  
  
"This method was implemented?" Ami said, thinking as she walked.  
  
"Well," Luna said, a preamble to a ramble if Ami ever heard one.  
  
"Yes or no." Ami snapped, still walking. The other Senshi were now paying complete attention to Mercury's tense behavior;  
even hordes of demons sacking CNN headquarters was stale compared to this.  
  
"Yes." Luna said.  
  
"It was for instant replacement at any time." Ami said, not asking a question but rather just talking to herself. "So it wasn't just to have an understudy of sorts, they wouldn't have the experience mentioned. Was this a mechanical Senshi?" Ami asked, a smile lighting up her face at the absurd thought of a robot Sailor Moon, metal odangos dangling.  
  
"I don't know." Luna said.  
  
"Where was it located? The moon?" Mercury said.  
  
"Maybe. As I said, I don't know..."  
  
Ami stopped suddenly. "It would have been on Mercury." She nodded, now certain of it. "Mercury is a central location in the Solar System; most of the top scientists were there. And what better way to bury a top secret project than among all of the other research projects there? Mercury had endless deserted,  
uninhabited land even then. No place was better for hiding things." She frowned. "But how would we find the place? Even if I'm right, that's still a lot of land." Ami now sat down on a barstool, assuming a classical thinker pose.  
  
Makoto shrugged. "If this thing is a Senshi on ice, we should be able to locate it pretty easy. The magic would stand out if it still existed."  
  
Ami thumped the palm of her hand on her forehead. "Ami no baka. Of course. Makoto, you and I will go to Mercury and find this thing, if it's there to be found. " Almost as an afterthought she turned to Usagi. "That OK, Princess?"  
  
Usagi nodded. The two transformed and left, and a sudden silence descended on the room. All eyes swung back to the TV,  
and the grim horror stories it reported.  
  
Hotaru smiled as she walked through Tokyo. The city's mood was grim and scared, though many citizens, when safely inside,  
were proud of their city so far. After all, unlike every other city around the globe, it had not descended into madness and chaos.  
Unbeknownst to them, that was because Ranma and Hotaru had planned it that way, rather than any other reason. And several of the groups she did teleport here were specifically gunning for Nabiki's spy network. She was fairly sure she had punctured holes in it faster than that witch could fix them. She continued on, planning to meet her double agent in a nearby park.  
  
Briefly she considered a jaunt over to the Outers' house again and this time burning it to the ground, but dismissed it. She was still weak from the sheer number of teleports they had been doing. Even with Ranma shadowing her movements, it didn't pay to buy trouble.  
  
Her contact was waiting as she walked into the lengthening shadows of the park. "Ah, Ukyo, so good to see you." she said,  
smiling.  
  
Ukyo didn't smile back. She still fancied herself Ranma's fiancee, Hotaru knew, but that didn't change her merely mortal nature. Of course, Ukyo knew that and schemed to become a mazoku herself. That made playing these games with her dangerous, not because of any threat from even an Ukyo turned mazoku, but rather from the danger Nabiki would pose if she caught wind of this. Just having the Senshi dealing with her was bad enough; Ukyo wanted Hotaru out of the way.  
  
"Where's Ranma?" she asked, the same question she always opened with.  
  
"He's around." Hotaru said, waving airily to show he was hiding offplane. "He'd rather be a surprise in any fight with the Senshi."  
  
Ukyo waved to the air and blew a kiss. "We love you too,  
Ranchan!" she said, then turned back to Hotaru. Hotaru noted the use of 'we' and wondered what Ukyo meant by it.  
  
Maybe she was unstable? She ignored it; wasn't anything she could do about it.  
  
"Have you passed on the knowledge I told you to?" Hotaru asked, wanting to confrim that this part of the plan was carried out.  
  
"Yes. They think Ranma is going to launch a full invasion of Japan any day. They're going nuts and want me to find out where." Ukyo reported.  
  
Hotaru chewed her lip for a second and pondered what misinformation to pass to the Senshi. "Tell them you know there's going to be a major push for Kyoto in three days."  
Hotaru and Ranma would be sure to send a huge force to Kyoto to let the Senshi fight while they prepared for a raid on Tokyo itself. If they could crumble the government of Japan itself, then the Senshi and allies would undoubtedly take over that role, and L-sama's plan would be fulfilled.  
  
"No problem. Just tell Ranma-honey he's got an okonomiyaki with his name on it waiting for him, OK?" Ukyo said, cheered.  
  
"I'll do that." Hotaru said, with a slight smile of her own, as she faded into the shadows.  
  
"So this is Mercury." Jupiter said, her voice sounding odd and dead on the lifeless, airless world. Save for the power of her Senshi magic, she would be as dead as this world was. The first thing she noticed, though, was why it was so scarred. "Damn,  
someone worked this place over good."  
  
That qualified for understatement of the year, so Sailor Mercury didn't directly comment on it. "It doesn't surprise me. Mercury was the innermost planet of the solar system and therefore the most central location. It was also the home of most of the Silver Millennium's greatest scientists and engineers, and it's the richest of the planets in terms of metals. That made it a natural place to store weapons and troops, ready to go off and die for the Moon Kingdom." She looked around the smashed, cratered landscape; bits and pieces of obviously military equipment were everywhere, the dead, still preserved (and well baked) remains of Silver Millennium soldiers scattered across the landscape. In the airless landscape of Mercury, they would remain unchanging for billions of years, most likely. "We must have hit the Dark Kingdom with everything we had." Mercury said, a slight smile of pride in her homeland of a past life creeping into her voice.  
  
"I'll say." Jupiter said. The battlefield creeped her out, to be honest. "Have you got a lock on that energy reading?" she asked.  
  
Mercury quickly turned from the battlefield to her computer.  
She looked up. "It's about a third of the way around the world.  
We'll have to teleport again." Jupiter nodded, and they vanished once again.  
  
The sun was in a different place, and this area was obviously the remains of a city, even though not a single building remained standing. The sheer amount of rubble was mind boggling to the two of them, and even more bodies and equipment were buried here. "I thought we were the defenders of the Moon Kingdom."  
Jupiter said, looking at the smashed vehicles and slagged remains of the city.  
  
Mercury started picking through the rubble, heading for where the readings were coming from. Unstable beams and concrete supports fell slowly in the lesser gravity, letting her move with some assurance. "We were the Princess's guardians, Jupiter.  
And the Outers dealt with extrasolar monsters. Besides, there's only nine of us; how are we supposed to hold off hordes of enemies?" she asked, picking up another beam.  
  
"Isn't that what we're doing now?" Jupiter asked, following Mercury through the rubble.  
  
Mercury let the beam she was lifting drop from nerveless fingers. "Of course! We don't need something to take out the top mazoku - well, actually, we do, but we also need raw numbers, too."  
  
Jupiter looked quizzically at Mercury. "Well, yes, but we already know the Musk and the Phoenix and the Amazons can't handle even the lesser mazoku." she said, wondering why Mercury chose now to have a blinding flash of the obvious.  
  
"But they wouldn't be able to stand up to the weak youma the Dark Kingdom used as foot troops either, would they?"  
Mercury said, a hint of excitement in her voice.  
  
"Well, no, they're about as strong as those demons the mazoku are using." Jupiter said, still not understanding where Mercury was going with this. "What's your point?"  
  
Mercury smiled. "Look around you."  
  
Jupiter made a show of looking around. "Yes. I see one very dead city, with thousands upon thousands of dead soldiers from the Silver Millenium killed by the Dark Kingdom. Only the senshi can take on bruisers like that."  
  
"You don't see." Mercury said, now smirking. "They didn't die from the youma, or this city wouldn't be so smashed up. They died from the Generals, from the fleet of the Dark Kingdom,  
and from Metallia." Mercury pointed to a dead soldier holding some kind of weapon. "Don't you see, Jupiter? They had weapons that could defeat the lesser youma - they died because WE failed them. The Senshi couldn't destroy the strong enemies for them."  
  
Jupiter still saw a flaw in that. "But we don't have those kinds of powerful weapons."  
  
Mercury picked up the dead Mercurian's weapon and looked at it. It was silvery and about two and a half feet long, with two hand grips and a trigger in front of the forward handgrip. There was a strap hanging from it to assist carrying it. Mercury was reminded a little of a rfile without a stock, except it felt so light,  
like it was a toy. Intellectually, she knew it was the lighter gravity, but she couldn't help but feel it was a toy, even if it was apparently powerful enough to let normal humans fight youma on even grounds. She pointed it at the facade of a mostly destroyed building and squeezed the trigger. A burst of light shot almost instantaneously through the airless city, silently slaming into the reinforced concrete and causing it to crumble slightly. "We do now." Mercury told Jupiter over her shoulder,  
walking towards where the reading was coming from. She slung her gun over her shoulder. Jupiter gave a brief look at the crumbled wall, then pried her own rifle out from under a broken slab of concrete and hurried after her friend.  
  
It was several hours of picking their way through the concrete and steel junkyard that used to be a Mercurian city and arrived where the signal was. Or rather... "It's coming from underneath." Mercury said.  
  
"Under?" Jupiter groaned. "I sure hope that building is as intact inside as it is out." Sure enough, the building they were next to was still fairly intact, even though the top however many floors had been blown off somehow and were mixed in with the other rubble a block north. There was even a large tracked thing that looked sort of like a tank, but had no turret next to it, and several other vehicles that looked nonmilitary. All were covered in a half foot of gray concrete dust. "If that's a tank that kills youma, we're finding a way to bring it to Japan." Jupiter said,  
pointing to it. They had seen vehicles before, but most were crushed beyond any hope of recognition.  
  
Dragging Jupiter behind her, Mercury entered the partially intact building and looked around. As a general rule there were less bodies and more intact things on this side of the town rather than the other; Mercury theorized that the battle must have therefore taken place mostly on the other side of the city.  
That meant that whatever this project was, it was likely still intact. Suppressing a shudder, Mercury then realized that the reason this city had been so thoroughly fought over was probably the very thing they were looking for. If the Silver Millenium were to have had any hope, it was left in that room.  
Serenity's troops had defended it to the very end, even after Serenity herself had given up on the Moon Kingdom. "Come on. There's got to be some stairs somewhere."  
  
"Somewhere" was right off the wide main corridor and heading down an equally wide set of stairs. A stray memory of Mercury's resurfaced, remembering Mercury during the golden days of the Silver Millenium. All the buildings in Mercury extended deep underground so people could take shelter from the strong radiation of a solar flare. The wide staircases were so everyone could get under the surface quickly. And under the city... "We would have been able to get in anyhow. There are tunnels under the whole city. Maybe beyond." Mercury said,  
trying to remember. They went down several flights of stairs,  
perhaps four floors underground, before the signal the Mercury computer was tracking leveled off. "It's on this level."  
  
When they found it, they couldn't find a way in. Giant steel doors held it shut, the doors loudly proclaiming that they were a part of the Undercity Sewage Control Plant System. Mercury sighed. That was one way to convince everyone not to poke around. Still, they had no idea how to open the huge doors.  
Every other wall around the thing was thick concrete.  
  
"How do we open this thing?" Mercury grumbled after an hour of fruitless searching. "There's no door controls or anything I can recognize."  
  
Jupiter stood in front of the door and suddenly spread out her arms as if she were about to hug the door. "Open Sesame!" she yelled, then held her ridiculous pose for a few seconds. The two of them burst out laughing. Jupiter gave the door a few shots from her scavenged enrgy rifle, to no effect.  
  
"Maybe we can shoot through the side wall." Mercury mused.  
The two of them circled around to the side and opened fire on piece of graffiti on the wall. Chunks of concrete dust were blown out of the way, but they quickly saw that steel bars and wire mesh were set into the concrete, and the rifles weren't as good in breaking those up. It did, however, let them see into a room full of large, upright coffinlike tubes and computer screens.  
  
"If that's processing sewage, Usagi is the poster child for Weight Watchers." Jupiter breathed. "This has to be what we're looking for."  
  
"Or it's some other project," Mercury said, trying to keep Jupiter's hopes down, just in case they were wrong. "Besides,  
we still need to get through this wall."  
  
The two of them thought for a while before a small smile crept across Jupiter's face. "Hey, Ami."  
  
Mercury didn't bother telling her not to use her name; no one was here to hear it anyhow. "Yes?"  
  
Jupiter smiled more widely now. "Will that tank fit down the stairs?"  
  
"Sure, why do you - ... oh NO." Mercury said.  
  
It was big. It was gray and dirty, a big ugly wart on the surface of Mercury. It was an alien looking vehicle with two hatches in the top and a pair of big fat treads down below. It was, in Jupiter's estimation, quite cool. "I get to drive!" she said, this being the first exciting thing that had happened since they got on Mercury. She quickly clambered on top of the vehicle and popped open one of the hatches, then took a look around inside.  
  
It was really cramped; a constellation of small screens surrounded one of the two seats, while a bunch of small switches and levers surrounded the other one. Squeezing through the mess of wires, conduits, and pipes running along the inside of the thick armor, Sailor Jupiter wormed around all of the equipment and settled into the lower, forward seat in the tank. The other hatch was right above her head. "Ami! Get in the hatch!" she yelled. She heard Mercury's scrambling over the dusty side of the tank and saw her legs descend into the cramped interior of the tank. Mercury got herself into the other seat and looked around.  
  
"It's dark in here," she said, hitting random buttons and switches by her station. "Try to turn on the lights." One of the switches Mercury hit brought a bunch of screens online.Another caused the entire world to shakewith a sound like thunder. She couldn't see what happened when it fired, but apparently Jupiter could.  
  
"Awesome!" she whooped, as debris rained down on the tank.  
Mercury shut the hatch above her head. No sense letting any more of the dust in than necessary. Jupiter started fiddling with her controls, finally getting her screens to light up. Two side sticks and a third, smaller lever popped out from the sides of her seat.  
  
"Those must be the controls." Mercury said unecessarily, as the tank's engine rumbled to life behind her. "Try to move forward."  
  
Jupiter nodded and pushed the sticks forward, causing the engine to rev up, but they remained sitting still. "Maybe the third lever is for shifting gears?" she wondered, and slid it forward a notch. Then she shoved the two sidesticks forward again.  
  
The tank's engine rumbled to powerful life, and then they suddenly pitched forward, as the thing backed up, running into the pile of debris behind them. "Go FORWARD!" Ami yelled over the cacaphonous din. Jupiter nodded again and pulled back on the sidesticks, then pushed the gear lever forward again. This time, the tank rumbled forward, and Jupiter smoothly guided it towards the door, not quite able to make the turn in time and taking the tank through part of the wall. The two senshi smashed through long dead office plants, desks, some sort of kiosk, and several walls before getting the tanks to the stairs.  
"Go slowly." Mercury commanded, not wanting to send the tank flying down the stairs.  
  
Creeping forward, Jupiter got the tank mostly onto the stairs when the tank began sliding, smahing the corners of every step and turning the stairs into a ramp. Turning as it slid, the two Senshi screamed in a panic as their vehicle slid crazily down the steps before slamming into the wall of one of the landings.  
Jupiter automatically pulled back on both sidesticks,  
hyperventilating.  
  
"That was.. er.. let's... uh.." Mercury said, momentarily at a loss. "Well, I'd say let's go up, but we've kinda removed that option." The floor under them buckled slightly. "Uh.. floor it?"  
Mercury said, just before the landing collapsed.  
  
Dropping twenty feet straight down, only to land with a weighty crash at street level in the underground parkway, the two Senshi groaned and clutched their injured bodies. Mercury had whacked her head against one of the consoles, and Jupiter had smashed her knees and left elbow in the jarring landing. She grimaced and got the tank rolling again. "That lab you want to get in is to the right, Mercury?" she asked, pretty sure but slightly disoriented.  
  
Mercury was disoriented too, but she wasn't about to admit it.  
"Correct! Just smash through the wall." Jupiter's driving was a lot smoother; adrenaline was making her react quicker to the way the tank tended to lurch as it ran over things. Jupiter saw the wall in question and pushed the gear lever again, hoping that the gears were arranged like on an earthly vehicle. The tank started to reach higher speeds. "Brace yourself!" Mercury said,  
just before impact.  
  
WHAAAAAAM. There is an unmistakeable sound a heavy metal object makes as it smashes into a building. Anyone who has ever seen a wrecking ball in action knows this. To be in the wrecking ball is another thing entirely. Both Senshi were thrown forward by the impact, catching themselves only because they were prepared this time. Jupiter backed up a few meters, then ran into the wall again at low speed, knocking down the section of the wall they had mosty smashed with the first impact. Then she opened her hatch.  
  
Mercury opened her own hatch, then looked at her fellow Senshi. "You look like a mess!" she laughed, pointing at Jupiter's bruised face.  
  
﻿ She then clutched her head; the sudden  
motion having upset her injured head.  
  
Jupiter laughed back at her. "I bet your face is even more of a  
mess. I don't think either of us managed to look this bad even in  
our nastiest fights."  
  
"Memo to self. Install padding in the tank." Mercury said, then  
lightly hopped down to the ground. She felt her head; then saw  
the blood on her fingers. 'No wonder my head hurts.' she  
thought. Turning to Jupiter, she elbowed her teammate. "Let's  
see what we've dug up."  
  
The two picked their way through the rubble that used to be a  
wall and entered the chamber. Softly glowing pink tubes were  
embedded in the wall to their left, a gentle light washing over  
the room from their frosted surfaces. Scattered notebooks and  
paper among the rubble told them that they had wiped out a  
nest of red tape when they went through the wall. The rest of  
the room was filled with silent machines standing sentry for all  
these centuries over the secrets of this room.  
  
Mercury picked up a random notebook which had been  
dislodged by their arrival and began thumbing through it. Her  
eyes widened. "What? What's in that?" Jupiter said, seeing  
Mercury's eyes. If she hadn't turned to talk to Mercury, she  
might have seen the lightly glowing eyes blinking to life behind  
them.  
  
Mercury rapidly flicked her eyes across the pages, snapping  
through section after section of handwritten notes too fast for  
Jupiter to follow. Her breathing sped up as she realized the full  
extent of what the Mercurian scientists had been planning. It  
kept her mind completely on the enormity of what she had  
found, and not the sounds of shifting rubble. "It's what they  
were doing here. They weren't just designing some sort of  
Senshi backups, they were designing- "  
  
"Intruders!" a flat voice yelled, interrupting Mercury. "You are  
not authorized! You will die!"  
  
  
  
Ranma stood on the mountain peak overlooking the Jusendo  
valley. It had previously been the second tallest such mountain;  
after his battle with Saffron, however, it was now the king of  
the valley of chaos magics, just as Ranma would be king of all  
the chaos of this world. He had no rivals, as his mentor  
Phibrizzo did; no one to question his view of the obligations of  
a mazoku. To be a mazoku was to be born to chaos - his life  
had shown that - and it was his duty to spread that chaos to  
everyone. Lightning crashed around him as he overlooked the  
valley, uncounted numbers of torches lighting the land on this  
dismal, storm-threatened day.  
  
"This is going to his head, isn't it?" Nabiki asked, sipping a cup  
of tea by the Guide's hut. This was technically her turf, anyhow,  
so she had an excuse for watching Ranma build the army he was  
building for his raid on Japan.  
  
Hotaru snorted. "I'm going to have to kick the shit out of him  
in practice today."  
  
"Are you sure you can do that?" Nabiki asked, wide eyed.  
Generally, Ranma was unbeatable after a few rounds of fighting  
with someone.  
  
"I know what you're talking about. We couldn't go full out in a  
fight anyhow, this planet couldn't take that kind of abuse."  
Hotaru looked at her Glaive for a few moments while Nabiki let  
the concept of that level of power soak in. "But I used to be a  
pretty good fighter, too."  
  
Nabiki blinked in confusion. "Weren't you some sickly little  
girl?" Hotaru gave her a murderous glare. Nabiki grinned  
weakly. "Eh heh.."  
  
Hotaru's face went from anger to a sneer, as if Nabiki was a  
bug not worth staining her shoes on. "Before that. I have my  
memories of my previous life."  
  
"Oh." Nabiki filed that away. She knew Hotaru was the  
reincarnation of some magical warrior from the past, but didn't  
know she knew everything from back then, either. They  
returned to watching the endless lines of minor demons walking  
into the Twins spring, over and over, until they formed a swarm  
that stretched as far as the eye can see. They also watched  
Ranma melodramatically survey the Jusendo Valley from his  
perch on the mountain.  
  
"Sometimes he can be such an overconfident prick. Sometimes I  
just feel like slapping him." Hotaru said. "The rest of the time, I  
remember why I'd follow him to the ends of the earth."  
  
"Why? The power, the immortality? His good looks?" Nabiki  
was rewarded with another murderous glare, which brought a  
smirk from Nabiki this time. "Or the big fights?"  
  
"I'd say the fights. Life around Ranma is a lot of things - dull is  
not one of them." Hotaru said, smiling herself. She then turned  
to Nabiki and changed her smile unpleasantly. "Ranma wants  
you to accompany us on the raid."  
  
Nabiki spit her tea out in surprise, hitting one of the demons  
who swarmed over the place. It growled, until it saw who had  
hit it. It then swiftly slunk away. "M-m-me? I'm not a fighter!"  
Nabiki blurted. What the hell did Ranma want her barging into a  
fight for?  
  
Hotaru nodded. "Fighter or no, you're very tough, with all the  
power Ranma has placed in you. He wants everything in this  
raid. No sense in doing it halfassed."  
  
"I hate fighting." Nabiki grumbled.  
  
"What the Senshi do isn't fighting." Tarou said, swaggering as  
he pushed his way through the crowd. "They wouldn't last one  
second without their cheap-ass pansy magic." Hotaru slammed  
her Glaive through his leg one handed, knocking him over.  
"Damnit, bitch, that hurt!" he yelled, grabbing his leg. With the  
pledge of immortality, the leg would regenerate, but that just  
meant this sadist could just lop it off again. "What the hell is  
your problem?"  
  
"You don't watch your tongue." Hotaru said, then leaned over.  
"Perhaps I should cut it off as well. Or didn't you remember  
that I happen to have their 'cheap-ass pansy magic' as well?"  
  
Tarou sat up and ran a hand through his hair. "Hey, it's all part  
of my charm."  
  
"What charm?" Nabiki asked.  
  
"I like having him around. He reminds me that some people let  
things go to their heads more than Ranma." Hotaru told her.  
Tarou crossed his arms and sniffed haughtily. "I'm going to  
practice with Ranma." she said, then teleported.  
  
"She really is a Nazi in a leather skirt, Tarou, or at least acts  
like one." Nabiki said. This wasn't the first time Tarou had  
gotten smacked around by Hotaru.  
  
"I don't see what femboy sees in her." Tarou grumbled.  
  
"With that outfit, it's more a question of what he doesn't see."  
Nabiki quipped. "You won't need to work with her much more  
anyhow; once Ranma gets everything set up with the Senshi the  
way he wants to, he'll just let you run your corner of the world.  
Africa is far enough from Hotaru's sphere of influence."  
  
Tarou stilled and looked off to the west. "You're right about  
that. I can put up with anything - for a little while."  
  
  
  
Mercury and Jupiter froze and turned slowly. Behind them,  
rising up from its tube, was a familiar, hated face. "Saturn,"  
Mercury whispered.  
  
The face was the same, but the costume was different - not the  
hateful black of the turncoat Sailor Saturn, but the white and  
purple that was rightfully hers. This Saturn seemed off, though,  
with a flat, emotionless expression. 'Of course,' Mercury  
realized, 'this is the first time she's ever been aware!'  
  
The strange Saturn moved forward, revealing mechanical joints.  
"You are intruders here. Identify yourselves or be destroyed."  
  
"It's some kind of robot," Mercury whispered to Jupiter, then  
turned to the fake Saturn and raised her hands. "I am Sailor  
Mercury. You should be able to verify that. This is Sailor  
Jupiter."  
  
"Your ages are incorrect. You are probably lying," the robot  
said, pausing for a moment. "Energy confirmed. Silver  
Millenium magical signatures matching parameters of Sailor  
Mercury and Jupiter."  
  
And that's all I wrote. I've still got the notes on where I had  
planned to go from there, though, so it's all good. It's just  
that I've lost interest in the story... however, for all those  
who liked it, I thank you.  
  
- Comrade Taro, aka the "RedMenace"  



	7. Ranmazoku Ch 11 incomplete

﻿   
Ranmazoku Ch 11  
By PansutoTarou5925  
  
DISCLAIMER - I do not own the rights to Slayers nor do I  
own the rights to Ranma ½. Long live the rightful owners of  
these two fine anime. This work is non-commercial and is done  
only in imitation of Rumiko Takahashi and Hajime Kanzaka.  
Imitation is the sincerest flattery, no? US rights owned by Viz  
and Software Sculptors. If I mention the Senshi, Sailor Moon  
belongs to Naoko Takeuchi(Sp, anyone?) and.. and.. I dunno  
who has the US rights, but it's theirs not mine. (I'm drawing a  
blank)  
  
  
  
Author's note - This story originated from an idea on  
Nighthawk's page and is some guy named NesTea's fault. If  
he's reading this, I'm curious to know what he thinks of all this.  
Questioning me would be like questioning Xellos if you ask  
when the next section comes out, because it's a secret.  
  
ALTAVERSE WARNING - This is an ALTAVERSE. Events,  
characters and the like may not resemble canon. People who are  
rabid canon-thumpers beware! (and eat a Dragon Slave while  
you're at it)  
  
SPECIAL WARNING - This comes after Ranmazoku and  
Ranmazoku Special. Don't get lost on me.  
  
NOTE - [...] indicates telepathic communication between  
Ranma and Hotaru in the Astral plane.  
  
  
  
Her human form sucked.   
  
Well, actually, it was quite powerful and pretty, and she liked it  
for old times' sake, but that didn't change her fundamental  
opinion of it, which was firmly based on the one thing that truly  
mattered to her.  
  
And what truly mattered to her, like what truly mattered to all  
mazoku, was pure, raw, unadulterated power. Attitude was just  
icing on the cake. But, of course, there were problems with  
maintaining her inhuman, monstrous form all the time. For one,  
it was conspicuous. Two, it was bigger and more inconvenient  
to move around this desert castle they had fixed up.  
  
Third, and most importantly, Ranma didn't train her unless she  
were in her human form.  
  
"Center yourself." Ranma said, also in his human form at the  
moment. He was sitting in a lotus stance across from her, a  
malignant dark aura draining the life from everything nearby. A  
fly touched the aura of shadow and died, the raw hatred put out  
by Ranma killing it just by overwhelming the fly's almost  
nonexistent mind with malice towards all living things. Plants  
growing in the packed dirt of the courtyard, the few weeds that  
had survived out this far from the oasis, turned brown and  
wilted. "Center on pain, despair, anger. You want these  
emotions to flow through your corporeal shadow, the reflection  
of your astral form."  
  
Hotaru clenched her teeth and focused on the things she hated,  
every painful moment of her lives. She thought of the other  
Senshi, of the Moon Kingdom, of the city of peace and refuge  
the reborn Senshi had built in the wasteland of anarchy Ranma  
had left behind on Earth. She thought of Nabiki, her only rival.  
She started, a whisper at first, but progressing to a steady  
drumbeat cadence of fury. "I hate... and I hate... and I hate... I  
hate, I hate!" she shrieked, her own aura powering up and  
flashing with streaks of purple flashing through its shadowy  
depths. More plants died; where her and Ranma's auras  
touched, they fought viciously, crackling like a battle of  
thunderstorms.  
  
"Now," Ranma said, still sitting quietly, "focus on destruction.  
Focus carefully on how you want to destroy your opponent.  
Focus on how you will strike your opponent. Imagine the killing  
blow - pull the hatred to it!" Ranma's aura suddenly swirled  
into his hand, vanishing into it, as he punched down from his  
lotus position. Instantly the ground rocked under their feet and  
a huge plume of dust rose in the courtyard, and clods of dirt  
rained down on her head. Looking through the mess with magic  
eyes, Hotaru saw that Ranma was now hovering just off-center  
over a crater that nearly extended to her feet.  
  
Hotaru similarly envisioned her own hand smashing into an  
imaginary opponent, the impact obliterating all but a few brown  
hairs to drift on the wind. The ground exploded under her; she  
was only dimly aware of having punched into the ground like  
Ranma had.  
  
"Excellent, Hotaru. It was hard adapting martial arts techniques  
to mazoku, as we're really on a separate plane of existence, but  
this will give us an advantage the next time we need to go  
undercover."  
  
"Is that it for training today, Ranma?" Hotaru asked. She hoped  
not; that meant she could hang around him longer.  
  
"Actually, yes. However, I want to know what's happening in  
the outside world." Good, Hotaru thought, she could explain  
what they had learned.  
  
"The nations formerly within the god-sealing field want to send  
an expedition to explore the outside world. Representatives of  
all the nations, plus the high officials of several governments,  
most notably Seyruun, have gathered in Saillune to launch the  
fleet." Hotaru said.  
  
"And all the information we have on nations outside the former  
field is a thousand years out of date." Ranma grumbled. He sat  
quietly for a few seconds.  
  
"We could always disguise ourselves as the obsessive fans of  
Lina and Amelia again." Hotaru said. Suggesting that Ranma  
dress up as a girl was always good for a laugh - and a rare taste  
of negative emotions from the more powerful mazoku.  
  
Sure enough, Ranma's eye twitched. "Why should we do...  
that?"  
  
"Well, as the royal family of Seyruun is there, then Amelia is  
there, therefore one of her crazed fans could plausibly be there.  
Lina Inverse would probably want to go to new lands, so one of  
her crazed fans could also plausibly be there. And even if  
they're not, no one will question us." Hotaru reasoned,  
explaining the logic of her course.  
  
"What if we just go as we are, but in more normal clothes?"  
Ranma countered, not really wanting to be a girl for any length  
of time.  
  
"Because we have more chance of getting to go on the ships if  
we can tag along with Lina!"  
  
"Big deal," Ranma said, "we could just teleport over to the new  
kingdoms."  
  
"We'd have our steps dogged by all the other mazoku lords,  
and there'd be fights everywhere."  
  
"Point."  
  
Hotaru decided to use her trump card. "Besides, you might get  
the chance to annoy your father this way."  
  
Ranma's eyes brightened. "OK, I'm sold!"  
  
  
  
"Explain to me once again why I decided to do this?" Ranma  
asked, scratching her red hair. Having it loose like this annoyed  
her to no end, and the headband was even more irritating. It  
simply wasn't what she was used to.  
  
"The off chance of annoying Xellos." Hotaru whispered. She  
herself looked sickeningly cute in her faux-Amelia outfit, down  
to the sickeningly cute pink trim. Hotaru frowned. If they did  
end up hanging around the real Lina and Amelia, she needed to  
give her some fashion tips. Purple, for instance. And the use of  
ribbons and bows instead of these silly star-jeweled pins as  
accessories.  
  
Ranma ignored Hotaru's intense look at her wrist, correctly  
surmising that the current source of her anger was too girly for  
him to care about. She silently and surreptitiously snagged a  
strip of ribs from a food vendor and stuffed the entire thing in  
her mouth, crushing it - meat, fat, and bones - with total disdain  
for normal, human eating patterns. She wiped her hands on  
someone's cloak, again without being noticed, then picked  
someone's pocket, stuffed the purse in another guy's belt, and  
bumped both of her victims.  
  
"Thief!" the person he had just pickpocketed screamed in  
outrage, pointing at his bag of coins, plainly visible on the other  
man's belt.  
  
"What the-" the other man managed before getting punched in  
the jaw. He rubbed his chin. "You bastard! Want a fight, do ya?  
I'll give you a fight!" With that he lunged at his opponent and  
tackled him, quickly starting a brawl that engulfed the nearby  
crowd in seconds.  
  
"Finished having fun?" Hotaru asked acidly. Inwardly, she had  
to admit that the emotions felt pretty good. Ranma nodded  
broadly, an extra spring in her step.  
  
  
  
It wasn't hard finding where the fleet was. A blind, deaf, and  
dumb person with the IQ of a rock who was wholly unable to  
find the water - such as Ryoga - would find that it was, in fact,  
almost impossible to miss the fleet even if you wanted to,  
because a steady push of humanity towards the docks forced  
people to take a look at the ships whether they wanted to or  
not. Of course, the sheer number of people complicated their  
search, but not as much as it would have been if they were  
looking for anyone else. Though Lina Inverse was many things,  
and would tell you so herself if you gave her a quarter of the  
chance, inconspicuous was not one of them.  
  
"Shit." Ranma groused, trying to look over the crowd. "I hate  
being so damn short when I'm a girl." Hotaru looked at her  
with an expression of long suffering. It was the one thing that  
irritated Ranma-sama to no end, that her female body was  
shorter than any of his lieutenants. Hotaru had grown up,  
mostly, on becoming a mazoku, but Ranma had already been  
close enough to adult. Even so...  
  
"Why don't you just change how tall you are, instead of  
bitching about it so much?" Hotaru asked, exasperated. "You  
drained the magic of Jusenkyo, it shouldn't be that hard!"  
  
"Lina Inverse has already seen me like this, remember? No one  
grows a foot or so in a couple of weeks." Ranma fired back.  
Even so, Hotaru noticed that Ranma gained two inches  
suddenly. She smirked and looked away. Sometimes Ranma  
could be so prideful. Changing her appearance probably hadn't  
occured to her up to that point. A flash of red caught her  
attention, however.  
  
Hotaru swatted an overweight man out of the way one-handed,  
sending him crashing into a food stand. Jumping up on a crate  
to get a better vantage point, she looked down at one of the  
docks by where the various dignitaries of all the nations would  
be giving speeches soon. Sure enough, the bright red hair could  
be seen moving through the crowd. And being pulled along  
behind was Gourry Gabriev. "I see them." Hotaru said, jumping  
back down. "Let's fly!"  
  
Ranma nodded, running into the crowd. Normally this wouldn't  
go anywhere, as the press of humanity was too strong for  
anyone merely human to shove their way through, but Ranma  
and Hotaru were hardly human. More people met the same fate  
as the fat man, as the two hurried through. At one point, Ranma  
stole a page from the Tokyo subways and shocked someone  
with an arc of crackling electricity, jolting them out of her way.  
And when someone in the crowd also reminded her of the  
Tokyo subway, by groping her..  
  
Blue eyes flashed and the culprit's life flashed before his eyes.  
He had no idea what the girl was, but human she wasn't. For  
her part, Ranma managed to check the impulse to cause him to  
blow up, or melt, or vaporize into motes of dust, and settled for  
the less flashy method of turning him into a cockroach. Her  
boot stomped down.  
  
"Got off lucky." Ranma growled, before rushing to catch up to  
Hotaru. Hotaru was already on the dock, as a few people  
getting bumped into the water attested.  
  
  
  
This was the incomplete Chapter 11... probably never before  
seen, IIRC, except by Tomas and maybe a handful of others. I  
think I might have posted a version on the forum a long time  
back, I'm uncertain. Oh well.  
  



	8. Sidestory

  
Sort of a Ranmazoku side story short-fic Gosunkugi, Apprentice Sorceror  
  
﻿DISCLAIMER - I do not own the rights to Slayers nor do I  
own the rights to Ranma ½. Long live the rightful owners of  
these two fine anime. This work is non-commercial and is done  
only in imitation of Rumiko Takahashi and Hajime Kanzaka.  
Imitation is the sincerest flattery, no? US rights owned by Viz  
and Software Sculptors. If I mention the Senshi, Sailor Moon  
belongs to Naoko Takeuchi(Sp, anyone?) and.. and.. I dunno  
who has the US rights, but it's theirs not mine. (I'm drawing a  
blank)  
  
It was in the still morning before dawn, and I smiled. The posters and pictures of Akane lining my walls flickered with an eerie light - not an unusual occurence, but for once this was not caused by my magic candles, but by the sorecerous arts!  
  
I dispelled the lighting spell as I flicked the light switch. No matter how cool it might be to summon the arcane forces, it was really tiring to call upon the mysterious powers of the demon Saotome. Metallium. Whatever his name was. It didn't matter. He had finally given me the tool I needed to cast him down and take the beauteous Akane from him!  
  
"Son! You're cackling evilly again!" my mother's voice drifted in from the kitchen.  
Mortified, I grab my books quickly and ran out the door. I wouldn't be eating breakfast, but sleeping late was a small price to pay for learning the Dark Arts. The hefty book Ranma Sa - Metallium had given me yesterday sat on my desk, open to the section on summoning demons. While it was all right to learn from Ranma, I didn't exactly want to have to rely on him. Unfortunately, I just got Ranma when I tried the spell. Luckily I was able to kick one of Akane's bras I bought off Nabiki into the circle and convince him I was trying to see if I could summon Happousai before he got suspicious. I should have remembered that from the first time I tried to summon a demon - you only get the nearest one unless you have a name.  
  
I suppose I got lucky, though. Now that I sent the demon possessing Ranma back to whatever hell it came from, the demon is in control and willing to teach me magic. And once I learn enough magic, then I can dispel the demon and kill Saotome and Akane will be mine! (1)  
  
I was rudely jarred out of my thoughts by the same gang of people who stole my money every day. Well, today, they had a suprise. I was no longer the weak boy they could push around! I had learned my battle tactics from the great demon Ranma Metallium himself!  
  
"Come on, punk, give us all your.. whaaa?" the octopus-masked punk said,  
stopping as he saw my "aura". In reality, it was just a lighting spell, but hey.. this is Nerima. I cackled madly.  
  
"FOOLS! Know this, I am Gosunkugi, student of the dark arts!" I increased the brightness of my spell and began to gesture dramatically. "I shall inflict upon you the greatest tactic of the arcane arts, the most secret technique of my school..."  
  
"He's going to blow us to ashes!" one now frightened gang member said.  
  
'No, he's going to electrocute us!" another said.  
  
"He'll make Kodachi fall in love with us!" cried the last. Everyone shuddered.  
That was a pretty good idea, actually.  
  
"And now, I shall..." I paused dramatically, grinning a ghastly grin, the better to go with my spooky eyes, "RUN AWAAAAY!"  
  
It was a few seconds before I heard the leader yell "Hey... get him!" By that time, I was already in the clear.  
  
School was interminably boring. I suppose it is to most students, but it's usually the most interesting part of my day. Not any more, what with my magical studies and all. I saw Sao.. er, Metallium was currently female after the brief rainshower. As it was lunch, I figured a test was in order. It wouldn't do for the magic to be cut off simply because Ranma was a girl. Now, who to hit with the spell... it couldn't be the demon Ranma herself, that would just be stupid to try, so it would have to be someone else. Preferably someone that was another rival for the fair Akane.  
Someone like Kuno, who was now trying to glmop onto Ranma and denouncing my master. I should be able to cast that simple curse spell Ranma taught me.  
Probably.  
  
"By the cold waters of Jusenkyo, I invoke thee, Chaos Demon Metallium,  
Afflict those who stand in the path of your glory!"  
  
It was entertaining to watch Kuno come down with an acute case of laryngitis.  
Ranma apparently knew when some one called upon her power, because she flashed me a quick thumbs up after Kuno let go of her in horror. He was clutching his throat and making unintelligible sounds before rushing off. At least that annoying, pompous fool had shut up. I was really hoping for something more dramatic and debilitating, but I guess Metallium just wanted him to be quiet and stop annoying her.  
  
It then hit me like a ton of bricks. (technically, Ryouga hit me like a ton of bricks,  
because I was in between him and Ranma. But that's just being literal.) I was now dangerous. For the first time, I could do something even to the strong people who opposed me, like Kuno. I gave Ranma a quick glance as she taunted Ryouga into a towering rage. With the demon Metallium as my ally, I would finally control my own destiny.  
(1) Yes, Gos believes Ranma is possessed. That's part of the reason he's so willing to apprentice himslef to Ranma.  
  
This was a mini-sidestory to Ranmazoku and occurs during chapter 2, for those of you wondering. Not many are, I wager. 


End file.
